As a kid growing up in Alaska I often saw chunks of glaciers sluff off into icy waters, sometimes creating massive waves that would rock our little boat for minutes.
That was nothing compared to this—a Manhattan-sized portion of the Iluslissat Glacier in Greenland crumbling apart. The guy filming said picture the buildings of Manhattan tipping over and roiling together in a massive tub of water to get a sense of the scale.
The extended footage from the 75-minute calving event—the largest/longest ever caught on film—has been incorporated into a documentary about climate change called Chasing Ice.
Sad to see these ice giants, that were such a part of my childhood, melting away.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2012.
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