Iceberg twice the size of New York City is set to break away from Antarctica

An iceberg roughly twice the size of New York City is set to break away from an Antarctic ice shelf as a result of a rapidly spreading rift that is being monitored by Nasa.

The shear face of the massive B-15A iceberg in McMurdo
Sound after it broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. 

A crack along part of the Brunt ice shelf in Antarctica first appeared in October 2016, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). The crack is spreading to the east. 

This rift, known as a Halloween crack, is set to intersect with another fissure that was apparently stable for the past 35 years but is now accelerating north at a rate of around 2.5 miles a year.

Once these two rifts meet, which could happen within weeks, an iceberg of at least 660sq miles is set to be loosened.

Read the story from The Guardian by Oliver Milman - “Iceberg twice the size of New York City is set to break away from Antarctica.”

Prime greater glider habitat going, going, gone @$80/ cu m

$80/cu m – that’ll be roughly the value of timber from Barjarg Flat coupe, once the trees have been converted to firewood. Vicforests is at pains to convince everyone that only the rubbish leftover from their logged coupes is used for firewood, but one look at the yard that sources firewood from local forests, puts paid to that fiction. These images show that Vicforests is plundering local forests for a quick buck and the lowest quality forest product – firewood! Firewood is not a by-product of local logging – it appears to be driving the whole enterprise!

The sign on the gate gives some indication of the values driving this business.

Firewood is certainly a useful commodity, but can Environment Minister d’Ambrosio honestly sit on her hands while some of the best Greater Glider habitat in Victoria might be turned into firewood by Vicforests? Perhaps these photos of the local firewood yard just outside Mansfield will help convince her that the process that is meant to protect threatened species, also allows their habitat to be logged for firewood – the system is broken!

Read the Our Strathbogie Forest News story - “Prime greater glider habitat going, going, gone @$80/ cu m.”