(August 10, 2010) For the second time in a month, a massive iceberg has broken off a glacier in Greenland, raising concerns among scientists about the world's warming oceans.
The 251-square-kilometre "ice island" broke off the Petermann Glacier, on Greenland's northwestern coast, on Aug. 5, officials with NASA said Monday.
Trudy Wohlleben, a senior forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service, detected the unusual activity while scanning imagery of the Arctic from one of NASA's satellites.
"The sheer size of it kind of took us by surprise," Wohlleben told CBC News.
The newly calved iceberg is about five times the size of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.
Largest in 48 years
Researchers with the University of Delaware say it is the largest to form in the Arctic since 1962.
"I knew when I saw the picture that it was big," said Andreas Muenchow, an associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering with the Newark-based university.
