Back Pine Island Glacier CEB Pine-Island-Gletscher German Glaciar Isla Pine Spanish Glacier de l'île du Pin French Ghiacciaio Pine Island Italian Painailendas glečers Latvian/Lettish Пајнајлендов Ледник Macedonian Pine Island-breen NN Pine Island-breen NB Glaciar de Pine Island Portuguese

Pine Island Glacier

Pine Island Glacier
British Antarctic Survey field camp on PIG
Map showing the location of Pine Island Glacier
Map showing the location of Pine Island Glacier
TypeIce stream
LocationWest Antarctic Ice Sheet, Antarctica
Coordinates75°10′S 100°0′W / 75.167°S 100.000°W / -75.167; -100.000[1]
Area175,000 km2 (68,000 sq mi) (whole catchment)[2]
LengthApprox. 250 km (160 mi)[2]
ThicknessApprox. 2 km (1.2 mi)
TerminusFloating Ice shelf
StatusAccelerating

Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is a large ice stream, and the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica, responsible for about 25% of Antarctica's ice loss.[3] The glacier ice streams flow west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from surveys and United States Navy (USN) air photos, 1960–66, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) in association with Pine Island Bay.[1][4]

The area drained by Pine Island Glacier comprises about 10% of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.[5] Satellite measurements have shown that the Pine Island Glacier Basin has a greater net contribution of ice to the sea than any other ice drainage basin in the world and this has increased due to recent acceleration of the ice stream.[6][7]

An iceberg about twice the size of Washington, DC broke off from the glacier in February 2020. Pine Island Glacier's ice velocity has accelerated to over 33 feet per day.[8]

The ice stream is extremely remote, with the nearest continually occupied research station at Rothera, nearly 1,300 km (810 mi) away.[9] The area is not claimed by any nations and the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any new claims while it is in force.[10]

Major rift in the Pine Island Glacier.
Pine Island Glacier, at left, and Thwaites Glacier have recently averaged ice elevation losses of 6 meters per year in places.
This "airborne" tour was created from only a small portion of the images collected during a flight over the Pine Island Glacier crack on October 26, 2011.
  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference gnisPineIslandGlacier was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference VaughanCorr2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "History Repeating Itself at Antarctica's Fastest-Melting Glacier". LiveScience. 2014.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference PayneVieli2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shepherd2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference RignotBamber2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rignot2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Freedman, Andrew (10 February 2020). "Iceberg that's twice the size of Washington cleaves off Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica, in a sign of warming". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference measuring was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference antarctictreaty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Rich TVX News Network Site

Rich TVX News Network Info

© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search