Huge Greenland iceberg starts to go to pieces

Off the coast of northwest Greenland, an enormous iceberg is beginning to go to pieces.

The huge ice chunk, named PII-2012, was originally part of the Petermann Glacier, but broke away from the glacier in mid-July in a process called calving.

By the end of July the Manhattan-size chunk of ice had nearly reached the mouth of a fjord that opens on the Nares Strait, a narrow stretch of ocean that separates Greenland from Canada.

1. Science news from NBCNews.com

   1. Yellowstone supervolcano's lava mystery

      The currently dormant supervolcano at Yellowstone may erupt with lava flows in the future, and scientists are working to pinpoint where exactly this might happen.

   2. Dig for Mona Lisa turns up a skeleton
   3. Why color changed in Van Gogh painting
   4. Fort used in Caesar's conquest of Gaul found

Now it's made its way into the strait, and has begun to break into several large pieces that could act as hazards for ships negotiating the narrow water body.

NASA's Terra satellite captured this natural-color image, above, on Sept. 13, which shows the main berg and two smaller fragments. This iceberg calved along a rift on the Petermann Glacier that had been visible in satellite imagery for several years.

The Petermann Glacier and other glaciers wind through Greenland's ice sheet, acting like slow-moving conveyor belts. They move ice from the middle of the frigid island to the sea, where they eventually give birth to enormous icebergs like this one.

Reach Douglas Main at dmain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @Douglas_Main. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter@OAPlanet. We're also onFacebookand Google+.

? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49066853/ns/technology_and_science-science/

chardon sean young juan pablo montoya free pancakes at ihop martina navratilova high school shooting daytona 500