..... an iceberg flip over?
Located on the west coast of Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle, Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is a tidal fjord covered with floating brash and massive ice, as it is situated where the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier calves ice into the sea. In winter, the area is frozen solid. One of the few places where ice from the Greenland ice cap enters the sea, Sermeq Kujalleq is also one of the fastest moving (40 m per day) and most active glaciers in the world. Its annual calving of over 46 cubic kilometres of ice, i.e. 10% of all Greenland calf ice, is more than any other glacier outside Antarctica, and it is still actively eroding the fjord bed. The combination of a huge ice-sheet and the dramatic sounds of a fast-moving glacial ice-stream calving into a fjord full of icebergs make for a dramatic and awe-inspiring natural phenomenon.
The Greenland ice cap is the only remnant in the Northern Hemisphere
of the continental ice sheets from the Quaternary Ice Age. The oldest
ice is estimated to be 250,000 years old, and provides detailed
information on past climatic changes and atmospheric conditions from
250,000 to around 11,550 years ago, when climate became more stable.
Studies made over the last 250 years demonstrate that during the last
ice age, the climate fluctuated between extremely cold and warmer
periods, while today the ice cap is being maintained by an annual
accumulation of snow that matches the loss through calving and melting
at the margins. This phenomenon has helped to develop our understanding
of climate change and icecap glaciology.
:o)
WOW...I never thought about that happening!!
ReplyDeleteImagine being there watching it roll over and not have a camera with you!
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