SANTIAGO – The detachment of a giant iceberg weighing a billion tons has caused alarm in the environmemntal organization Greenpeace Chile.
The organization considered the planet’s climatic crisis is very serious from now on.
The iceberg has nothing less than 5,800 square kilometers, and though it weighs a lot it does not represent any danger for an increase of the sea level, because it was already in the water months ago, when it started its detachment.
Greenpeace-Chile said in a statement this week that although the exact causes are not clear, “with this detachment Antarctica will be in a situation of increased vulnerability”.
“In this process the global effects of climate change cannot be excluded. What happens in the white continent is seen as an early warning,” said Greenpeace Chile, regarding the impact that the rise of temperature is generating on the planet.
Matías Asun, national director of Greenpeace, said that the consequences of this huge detachment is that it will leave Antarctica in a situation of increased vulnerability regarding future detachments.
“That is due to the temperature of the winds. The winds in this part of Antarctica are hotter. In fact, over the past 50 years, the temperature in this region increased three degrees,” he warned.
“What began as a crack in the northern area of the Antarctic Larsen C, was transformed in a deep and extensive break that ended in one of the most gigantic landslides for which records are available.”
According to scientists, this iceberg is one of the largest 10 that have been registered. To get an idea of its magnitude, the surface is equivalent to a third of the Metropolitan Region of Santiago (15,403 sq. km).
