New Delhi | Jagran Trending Desk: The global warming has led to an increase melting of glaciers due to which the seal level is continuously rising. A huge iceberg, thrice the size of Paris and twice of Washington DC, this week broke the Pine Island glacier in Antarctica, said the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a statement.
“The Pine Island glacier recently spawned an iceberg over (115 square miles) that very quickly shattered into pieces,” the ESA said.
According to US’ NASA, the Pine Island glacier is one of the fastest-retreating glaciers in Antarctic and it contains enough vulnerable ice to raise global sea level by 1.2 meters (4 feet).
The video of the breaking off the glacier was captured by the ESA. In the video, the huge chunk of calved ice swiftly breaking into smaller icebergs, called 'piglets'. Scientists at the ESA have been monitoring the glacier for several years via satellites. It had taken 57 images in an year and compiled them to make a short video. In the video, a 120 square mile (312 sq km) chunk of ice break off from the glacier's main body.
“Its floating ice front, which has an average thickness of approximately 500 meters (1,640 feet), has experienced a series of calving events over the past 30 years, some of which have abruptly changed the shape and position of the ice front,” the ESA said.
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has said that the Pine Island glacier is losing about 58 billion tons of ice a year.
“The Copernicus twin Sentinel-1 all-weather satellites have established a porthole through which the public can watch events like this unfold in remote regions around the world,” said Mark Drinkwater, head of the Earth and Mission Sciences Division at the ESA.
“What is unsettling is that the daily data stream reveals the dramatic pace at which climate is redefining the face of Antarctica,” he added.
Posted By: Aalok Sensharma
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