Glacier That Produced Iceberg That Sank Titanic Moving at Record Clip
Posted on February 6, 2014
The Jakobshavn Glacier - the glacier that produced the iceberg that sank the Titanic in 1912 - is moving at a record clip today. Researchers from the University of Washington say the glacier is the fastest glacier ever recorded. It is moving ice from land into the ocean at record speed. The researcher say that in summer of 2012 the glacier reached a record speed of more than 10.5 miles (17 kilometers) per year. This is over 150 feet (46 meters) per day.
Lead author Ian Joughin, a glaciologist at the UW's Polar Science Center, says in a release, "We are now seeing summer speeds more than four times what they were in the 1990s, on a glacier which at that time was believed to be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, glacier in Greenland."
The researchers used computers and satellite data to measure the glacier. The scientists say as it speeds up it is adding more and more ice to the ocean and contributing to sea-level rise.
Joughin says, "We know that from 2000 to 2010 this glacier alone increased sea level by about 4/100 of an inch (1 millimeter). With the additional speed it likely will contribute a bit more than this over the next decade."
The research was published here in the journal, The Cryosphere.
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