Bromley speaks with WABI about massive iceberg breaking off Antarctica
Gordon Bromley, a research assistant professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences and the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, spoke with WABI (Channel 5) about an ice shelf weighing more than one trillion metric tons and measuring about the size of Delaware that recently broke off from Antarctica. Bromley, who has taken multiple research trips to the continent, said a breakage isn’t uncommon and scientists have been monitoring the crack for quite some time. “The iceberg carving process is a natural process. This is how ice sheets and glaciers lose mass. And in Antarctica it’s the principle way they shed all that snow that fell on the interior,” he said. “This giant iceberg is not going to change sea level because it’s already displacing that water.” However, even though the breaking is a natural occurrence, that doesn’t mean the region isn’t experiencing problems, WABI reported. “This part of the world has been warming very quickly,” Bromley said. “It’s one of the fastest warming places on Earth.”