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From: clewis@lsuc.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: sci.misc,misc.headlines
Subject: Re: Antarctica Breaking up ??
Message-ID: <2151@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Nov-87 02:55:45 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.2151
Posted: Thu Nov 12 02:55:45 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Nov-87 06:36:15 EST
References: <677@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Reply-To: clewis@lsuc.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Organization: Curmudgeons At Large
Lines: 16
Summary: Naw, burped maybe.
Xref: mnetor sci.misc:628 misc.headlines:1862

In article <677@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> carlos@jplpro.JPL.NASA.GOV (Carlos Carrion) writes:
>Read in the paper this morning of an iceberg TWICE the size of
>Rhode Island breaking off from Antarctica. ...
>...
>But seriously folks...I know the Earth's atmosphere is getting warmer.
>Would this have anything to do with it or is the iceberg break off 
>just an extraordinary event??
It might have something to do with it, but not specifically.  The
Antarctic's known for spawning enormous icebergs.  I seem to remember
reports of icebergs up to a hundred miles long getting spawned every
once in a while (several years).  Unlike most of the glacier calving
in the north, where icebergs are often pieces that fall off land-born
glaciers, Antarctic icebergs are often simply large areas of frozen ocean
that snap off and drift away.
Arctic icebergs get jostled around a lot (there's lots of islands and
currents up there) and break up more quickly too.