There's a news story that's made many newspapers about this New York City-sized iceberg that is being formed by the Pine Island Glacier. Here's a link to what I think is the best article so far on the subject:
http://bit.ly/vxaJnv
Yet somehow, I think all the articles missed what is the most significant about this story, that it takes place on the face of the Pine Island Glacier, which is the focus point for one of this coming century's biggest question: how much will the sea rise with global warming? The flow of the Pine Island Glacier has been accelerating, and given that it is the central drainage point for a vast stretch of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the difference between it's flow rate remaining stable and it pouring out rapidly speak to a difference of something like 1 foot in global sea level rise vs 6 feet of global sea level rise over the coming 100 years.
Meanwhile, news from the north:
Summer 2011: Arctic sea ice near record lows
The summer sea ice melt season has ended in the Arctic. Arctic sea ice extent reached its low for the year, the second lowest in the satellite record, on September 9. The minimum extent was only slightly above 2007, the record low year, even though weather conditions this year were not as conducive to ice loss as in 2007. Both the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route were open for a period during September.
More information: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaice-news/
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