One of the biggest icebergs in recorded history just broke loose from Antarctica

Are there any pics?

You'd think with the biggest iceberg ever there'd be at least a public satellite pic...

Please share pics.

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: intergalactic fire
a reply to: rickymouse

Why not tow it to the Western African shore and then transport it to the Sahara? I know some people wouldn't mind that.

Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to move people out of the desert?

Like they do with the refugees? That worked out well didn't it?

To everyone thinking "tow it to wherever", are you joking?

How would you tow it? Even if you combined every ship on earth in a tow armada they'd only be risking their own safety for nothing.

The ocean currents combined with an object this size create a force far exceeding tiny little ships like aircraft carriers, tankers, or cruise liners.

And how would you secure the tow cables? What if this thing breaks or dips in the water a little? The berg underwater has an unknown jagged shape as well possibly.

Can you imagine the danger posed here?

I know people like to imagine humanity as being super powerful but the reality is we are just ants compared to Mt. Everest here. There's nothing we can do except steer very clear of this thing.

originally posted by: intergalactic fire

originally posted by: Bluntone22

originally posted by: intergalactic fire
a reply to: rickymouse

Why not tow it to the Western African shore and then transport it to the Sahara? I know some people wouldn't mind that.

Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to move people out of the desert?

Like they do with the refugees? That worked out well didn't it?

I've been told on this very website that the refugee situation is greatly exaggerated.

Besides it's still not practical to drag all that ice around. The cost would be enormous if it's even possible.

a reply to: muzzleflash

It's 2017, we can do anything. I don't want to hear excuses. We could land it on Mars and create an ocean there if we wanted.

a reply to: muzzleflash

ice bregs can be towed, wheres there a will there's a way.


most dwarf the ships towing them.
Images of icebregs being towed

ETA: been a while back now, if memory serves there was documentary on people towing them back to a country and using it for fresh water. i'll see if i can find it.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Serious though, I wasn't joking. If you are really that concerned about sea level rise why not use some of the sea mass like icebergs and use it on the land for agricultural use for example or yes to green a desert?
You will help lowering sea levels or at least try to compensate with the land ice melting.
And yes lots of people would benefit this use.
Of course this would be a massive global project. Cutting icebergs, towing it to coast, melt them and transport it via pipes to the areas where needed.

a reply to: intergalactic fire

I'd rather not try to fight mother nature.
That's a losing proposition.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

Yes, bergs can be towed.

But this isn't your typical berg.

What you've linked to is something like this:

The average weight for a Grand Banks-area iceberg is 100,000-200,000 tonnes – about the size of a cubic 15-storey building.

What's in the OP is this:

...weighs a trillion tons.

That's an approximation btw, but hopefully you can see that we are talking a couple of orders of magnitude in difference. I don't think there's enough horsepower on earth to even budge that massive ice sheet.

a reply to: Bluntone22

As a small urban farmer I wouldn't dare. I'm always listening to what my plants need rather than disrupting their soil with chemicals.
But you know it seems human kind isn't doing anything else than fighting it rather than work with it.
I was just trying to say, where you create a problem it might be a good idea to try and fix it. If you cut a tree you'd better plant a new one.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

Hmm so it doesn't seems that a crazy idea.


An Abu Dhabi-based eco firm plans to tow icebergs to the UAE from Antarctica in early 2018 to harvest the ice for pure drinking water.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

like i said where's there is a will there's a way.
no one said it had to be whole, wouldn't surprise me if people developed plans for drilling and blasting chunks off. or use stream from sea water to cut chunks off, just a couple of ways off the top of my head.

a reply to: intergalactic fire

Well I'm in Indiana surrounded by corn, wheat and soy. We don't plant bananas or pineapples.
The land tells you what's possible.

Every time man tries to fight nature it seems to fail.

Let the burg drift...

If you look again at the map of the ice above, theres a larger chunk? the Larson A and Larson B ice shelf that broke off in 2002. Wonder why were not under water yet?

originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: abago71

This is not it, but I'm sure it was just as impressive. I'd love to have been there for this though. Can you imagine the sound of it?!

Incredible footage... I'm glad they added that picture at the end to show the true scale of how massive that ice calving was!

originally posted by: intergalactic fire
a reply to: Bluntone22

Serious though, I wasn't joking. If you are really that concerned about sea level rise why not use some of the sea mass like icebergs and use it on the land for agricultural use for example or yes to green a desert?
You will help lowering sea levels or at least try to compensate with the land ice melting.
And yes lots of people would benefit this use.
Of course this would be a massive global project. Cutting icebergs, towing it to coast, melt them and transport it via pipes to the areas where needed.

you could drill and build a massive amount of deep water wells in the desert area, for the money it would take to tow just one of those icebergs, cut it up and transport the water from it to where you want it to go. ....just because you might be able to do it, doesn't mean it's cost affective compared to other methods of supplying water.

a reply to: vinifalou

No worries.

It's just the earths natural way of cooling itself down.

Just adding this vid fly over

a reply to: muzzleflash

There is this thread of the crack developing which shows how massive this thing is!

ATS, Jan. 2017: Huge iceberg ready to break off Antarctica: 20 Km Left to Go!

And yeah, "let's tow Delaware to the desert..." seem kind of silly. Maybe to the Gulf of Mexico to keep hurricanes strength down...

phys.org - Trillion-tonne iceberg breaks off Antarctica.

Trillion tons... no problem!

ETA: It is 1,100 feet thick (350 meters) (phys.org)

I say they nuke it and call it a day!