Giant iceberg breaks free from Antarctic in collision

[Aurora]

The Independent - 27/02/10



An iceberg the size of Luxembourg has broken away from the Antarctic continent and is drifting towards an area of the Southern Ocean that plays a critical role in driving the world's ocean circulation – the global "conveyor belt" of circulating sea water.

The floating iceberg, which contains enough fresh water to supply a third of the world's population for a year, is 48 miles long, 22 miles wide, has a surface area of 965 square miles and an average thickness of 1,300 feet. It is one of the largest icebergs to be monitored by scientists.

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[2 As and a B]

Gulp!

Satellite image of a 60-mile-long iceberg, right, crashing into the Mertz Glacier tongue in Antarctica

If the RH iceberg rammed the tongue and caused the LH one to break off, why has the LH one moved clockwise? Is it being dragged away by ocean current? If so, what's with that area of clear water on the left? It looks like a slip-stream. Maybe ocean water is funnelling between the LH iceberg and the remains of the tongue? Shouldn't we be concerned about where both icebergs will head off to, rather than just the one that has recently broken off?

So many questions.