Petermann glacier is now 260 square km smaller. (Greenpeace.org/international: Nick Cobbing)An ice island measuring 260 square kilometres broke off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers, scientists say, the biggest such event in the Arctic in nearly 50 years.
The new ice island, which broke off on Thursday, will enter a remote place called the Nares Strait, about 1,000 kilometres south of the North Pole between Greenland and Canada.
Professor of ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware, Andreas Muenchow, said he had expected an ice chunk to break off from the Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest remaining ones in Greenland, because it had been growing in size for seven or eight years. But he did not expect it to be so large. Full story here
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The Island is about four times the size Manhattan and is now drifting slowly towards the Canadian island of Ellsemere. If the glacier reaches the Nares strait before the winter freeze in September, it could be carried along the east coast of Canada and reach vital shipping lanes and oil platforms in around two years.
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