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NASA satellites have observed the calving, or breaking off, of one of the largest icebergs ever recorded. Named "C-19" - the iceberg separated from the western face of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica in May 2002, splashed into the Ross Sea, and virtually eliminated a valuable food source for marine life... |
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| Huge Antarctic Iceberg makes a Big Splash on Sea Life (October 2003) |
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The event was unusual, because it was the second-largest iceberg to calve in the region in 26 months. Over the last year, the path of C-19 inhibited the growth of minute, free-floating aquatic plants called phytoplankton during the iceberg's temporary stopover near Pennell Bank, Antarctica. C-19 is located along the Antarctic coast and has diminished little in size. Since phytoplankton is at the base of the food chain, C-19 affects the food source of higher-level marine plants and animals. Kevin R. Arrigo and Gert L. van Dijken of Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., used chlorophyll data from NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor. The instrument, on the OrbView-2 satellite, also known as SeaStar, was used to locate and quantify the effects of C-19 on phytoplankton. The researchers were able to pinpoint iceberg positions by using images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), an instrument aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites... |
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Also: Detection, not warming, behind increase in large Antarctic icebergs: Articles from outside sources do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Wayfarer Online or its creators. (Please note, that from time to time some external links to outside news sources may have expired - our apologies for any inconvenience or email us and we'll endeavour to retrieve the article from our archives and send it on to you....) Wayfarer International, Copyright © John & Melody Anderson, 1997 - 2003. All rights reserved.
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