One of the largest icebergs in recorded history, about the size of Delaware, is about to break off the Northern tip of Antarctica, from an ice shelf named Larsen C that has existed for an estimated 12,000 years. Icebergs, this size, in Antarctica usually take decades to break off from an ice shelf. However, the crack on Larsen C has grown at an incredibly rapid rate, beginning in Nov. 2010 and nearing it’s completion now just less than 7 years later. The loss of this landmass of ice is extremely dangerous as it exposes the entire Larsen C ice shelf to rapid melting and disintegration that could rise global sea levels by almost 4 inches if the entire ice shelf disappears. Not only is the loss of the entire ice shelf a concern, but it is a very real possibility considering that smaller, similar ice shelves, Larsen A in 1995 and Larsen B in 2002, have also quickly collapsed after a large iceberg break. Their disappearance has lead to a 2.6 inch increase in global sea levels in the last 20 years, something that will be dwarfed by the 4 inches expected from Larsen C. It is worth mentioning that on that Northern peninsula of Antarctica, an Argentinian research team has recorded the hottest temperature in the continent’s history at 63.5 degrees fahrenheit. Man-made global warming has reduced the landmass of the continent and risen its temperatures at rates never before seen on Earth. Larsen C will not be the end of the troubling developments on the Earth’s southern hemisphere. The collapse of the ice shelf, like the others, will simply expose even more ice to rapid melting, including ground ice on continental Antarctica. This ice, on the continent itself hold back near-apocalyptic global sea level rises that would see entire coastlines disappear and an absolute destabilization of global temperature and climate and with the loss of this iceberg. There is only so much information I can pass on through a high school article, but the data you can find on the internet is almost hard to believe and hopefully raises your concern about this phenomenon. In the meantime, hopefully you can find some amusement in the fact that in a month or two a chunk of ice the size of delaware will be floating around the ocean and our secretary of state is the CEO of Exxon.