The Big Rift; Larsen C Ice Shelf and the birth of an Alpha Iceberg

by The Antarctic Report - Podcast

Adrian Luckman interview

 

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Q. In terms of recorded icebergs where does this one stand?

 

A.“….this is definitely in the top ten. The biggest ever recorded is about 2 and half times the size of this one, but that was absolutely exceptional, and that was back in the year 2000, so there is only few recorded ones that are roughly this size.   It’s pretty significant.”

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Q.  Is there any consensus at all among scientists as to whether anthropogenic CC has had some sort of partial connection with the disintegration A, B, and what’s happening to Larsen C?

 

“…what we see on the Antarctic Peninsula is a place where the air temperatures are rising faster than almost anywhere else on the planet. So, it would be inconceivable that it didn’t have an accelerating affect on disintegration of ice shelves in general on the Antarctic Peninsula. And we see this limit of viability of ice shelves moving further and further south. In the case of Larsen C, this is the point at which the rift itself, we can’t say that’s been caused by climate change, it’s a rift that’s been there for decades, it might just be that it was always going to go. But I would say that it’s likely that climate warming will have helped that…”