A Trillion-Ton Piece of Ice Just Broke Off The Antarctic Peninsula

One of the largest pieces of ice to ever break off from the Antarctic Peninsula has been recently making waves, and much speculation about its impact. The piece that has just broken off from the Larson C shelf holds twice as much water as Lake Erie, and is so large that the coastline of the peninsula must be redrawn.  

Although ice shelves fracture and break off regularly, scientists believe the stability of the rest of the shelf has been put in danger due to the event. And although this particular event is not being directly attributed to climate change, "it’s pretty clear … there’s a connection to an overall warming that part of Antarctica has experienced”, says Christopher Schuman, a scientist with the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard. Antarctic ice shelves have been breaking off and losing ice at an accelerated pace, and further loss could contribute significantly to rising sea levels. 

This article provides some context and scale to the figures to help visualize just how big this piece of ice is. Comparisons to volumes, heights, and other measurements familiar to Americans are made, and various charts and figures are included. Understanding the scale of this change is vital, and this article goes far to facilitate that process.