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If the line "Iceberg right ahead" sends chills down your spine, you might be in for some not so great news. Buzz60's Angeli Kakade (@angelikakade) has the story. Buzz60
This Nov. 10, 2016, aerial photo released by NASA, shows a rift in the Antarctic Peninsula's Larsen C ice shelf. (Photo: John Sonntag, AP)
It's the crack that's captivating the world. A 110-mile-long rift in an Antarctic ice shelf promises to eventually shear off and create a massive iceberg larger than Rhode Island.
For now, it's fascinating scientists, gamblers and the public worldwide. Everyone wants to know when part of the Larsen C ice shelf will finally break off, fundamentally changing the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula.
The short answer: It could take days to years. But the iceberg is most likely to break free within the next few months because of the overwhelming weight the 110 miles of already separated ice is placing on the 12 miles that remains connected to the shelf, said Adrian Luckman of Project MIDAS, a British Antarctic research project that's keeping watch on the ever-growing crack.
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Ice shelves are permanent floating sheets of ice that connect to a landmass, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Studying them is important because they "hold back the glaciers that 'feed' them," Luckman said. "When they disappear, ice can flow faster from the land to the ocean and contribute more quickly to sea-level rise."
There is no direct evidence to link this event to climate change, he added. Although the general ice shelf decay along the Antarctic Peninsula has been linked to a warming world, this rift appears to have been developing for many decades, and the result is likely natural, according to Project MIDAS.
A similar event happened 15 years ago with the dramatic break-up of part of the nearby Larsen B ice shelf. After that break, the number of glaciers behind it accelerated and are still flowing faster than before.
The Larsen-C rift opening over the last 2 years from #Sentinel1pic.twitter.com/MT9d3HAw1M
— Adrian Luckman (@adrian_luckman) January 31, 2017
The crack in the Larsen C ice shelf is now about 1,500 feet wide, and has lengthened substantially in the past few months, growing by about 20 miles since December. That's a rapid pace considering that overall, the crack has grown by 50 miles since 2011, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Once the crack goes all the way across, the iceberg will shear off.
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Irish bookmakers, ever in search of something to bet on, offered odds last month on when the iceberg will finally break off. PaddyPower offered 7-to-2 odds it will break free in February or March, which is summer in Antarctica. By October, the odds slide to 25-1.
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Pesky clouds cover much of the continent, preventing visual sightings of what's going on, so scientists rely on what they call "remote sensing" from satellites to study the ice. This can be done from anywhere on Earth, including Swansea University in Swansea, Wales, where Luckman is based.
Luckman and his team use radar data from orbiting European satellites that use microwave energy to "see through" clouds, and are able to produce an image night or day, winter or summer.
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Far from being a dull spectacle, Luckman said it's a "fascinating and sometimes beautiful" process to study ice all over the world.
And as the Antarctic crack, "we are watching with bated breath," he added.
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