Cracks the ice is part of a natural cycle known (Reuters)
Revealed by scientists from the U.S. National Research Department of Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the presence of a large crack in the ice sheet for the Antarctic getting wider and can be separated by a problem in the coming months a mountain ice the size of New York City.
And extends the rift in the west of Pine Island to the South Pole at least 30 km and a depth of 50 meters.
The World Ice Bridge project in the "NASA" Michael Stoddingr that this fault accommodates a rate of two meters per day.
Stoddingr said that if the ice broke, it would be a mountain of ice some 880 square kilometers. But Carter said the process is not caused by global warming.
He added that they expect a huge iceberg in later this year or early next year as part of a natural cycle known to scientists.
These periodic events occur every few years. The last major incident of the separation occurred in 2001, and then there were expectations of something like this very soon.
For scientists, the views of this event when it happens is something very exciting.
It is noteworthy that this fault has been detected the first time at the end of September / September last while monitoring the scientists of the changes in ice sheet floating stuck on the island mentioned by flights of air to fill the gaps left between images of two satellites have been published to investigate the event and ended their mission in 2009. It is expected to launch another satellite in 2016 to follow up on these natural phenomena.
Source: The Daily Telegraph