2010/08/11

Fwd: + Iceberg Four Times Size of Manhattan May Hamper Ships (Update1)

---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Iceberg Four Times Size of Manhattan May Hamper Ships (Update1)
2010-08-11 13:50:39.850 GMT


(Adds comment from U.S. representative in fourth
paragraph.)

By Jeremy van Loon
Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A chunk of ice four times the size
of Manhattan broke away from Greenland and may drift toward
shipping lanes in the North Atlantic and off the Canadian coast,
researchers said.
The 100-square mile ice island, with enough stored water to
keep the Hudson River flowing for more than two years, split off
from the Petermann Glacier last week, according to Andreas
Muenchow, an associate professor of ocean science and
engineering at the University of Delaware.
The ice is the largest to detach from an Arctic glacier
since 1962 and follows the six warmest months on record.
Glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than
predicted, accelerating their march to the sea and adding to the
rising ocean levels that threaten coastal communities worldwide,
according to many scientific studies.
"So far, 2010 has been the hottest year on record, and
scientists agree Arctic ice is a canary in a coal mine that
provides clear warnings on climate," said U.S. Representative
Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts and chairman of the
Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, on
the panel's website.
The ice island has been drifting in the sea lane between
Canada and Greenland since Aug. 5, Muenchow said on the
university's website. It may block the channel, break into
smaller pieces or hit land, he added.
The ice will encounter real islands in the Nares Strait and
may drift along the coast of Canada's Baffin Island toward
Labrador, eventually reaching the Atlantic in about two years,
Muenchow said.
The Petermann Glacier covers about 500 square miles.
Researchers at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State
University are monitoring a rift in the ice, according to NASA.
Over a two-week period last summer, the glacier lost 11 square
miles, NASA said.
Natural disasters over the past few months have also pushed
up the price of wheat and caused fires in Russia. Wheat has
jumped 50 percent in Chicago since the start of July amid
concern that a smaller harvest in Russia will reduce
availability of the grain in world markets.
Moscow has been choking on smoke from forest fires and
burning peat bogs since last week. The worst heat wave on record
has devastated villages, forests and crops, causing the
government to ban grain exports and threatening to slow Russia's
recovery after the economy shrank 7.9 percent last year.

For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Stories about climate change: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Stories about Antarctica: NSE ANTARCTICA <GO>

--With reporting by Alex Morales in London. Editors: Reed
Landberg, Todd White

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeremy van Loon in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6231 or
jvanloon@bloomberg.net;
Alex Morales in London at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.