Argentina Interrupts TV Coverage For Huge Glacial Calving

[hatrack]

Shame it happened at night! :eyes:

BUENOS AIRES - Huge chunks of ice have tumbled off Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier - a rare spectacle that prompted a vigil by hundreds of tourists.


Argentine television stations interrupted regular programming with live coverage of the break-up of the glacier known as the "White Giant," which was caused by building water pressure in the lake that it extends across.

For days, tourists huddled on a platform facing the glacier, located in the far south 78 kilometers (48 miles) from the town of El Calafate. Pieces of the glacier finally broke off late Monday night. "It was dark so we couldn't see it, but we heard it," said Carlos Corvalan, the head of Argentina's National Glaciers Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Perito Moreno, which Argentine officials say is the world's only expanding glacier, spreads across a large swathe of southern Patagonia, ending in a translucent blue wall of ice along the Lago Argentino. Many of the world's glaciers are retreating as a result of global warming, scientists say. Perito Moreno forms a natural ice dam extending across a part of the lake. Occasionally, rapidly flowing water beneath the ice leaves a fragile bridge that eventually collapses.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35646/story.htm

[bemildred]

1. Huge chunks of ice have tumbled off Argentina's Perito Moreno glacier - a

Argentine television stations interrupted regular programming with live coverage of the break-up of the glacier known as the "White Giant," which was caused by building water pressure in the lake that it extends across.

For days, tourists huddled on a platform facing the glacier, located in the far south 78km from the town of El Calafate. Pieces of the glacier finally broke off late Monday night.

"It was dark so we couldn't see it, but we heard it," said Carlos Corvalan, the head of Argentina's National Glaciers Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Perito Moreno, which Argentine officials say is the world's only expanding glacier, spreads across a large swathe of southern Patagonia, ending in a translucent blue wall of ice along the Lago Argentino. Many of the world's glaciers are retreating as a result of global warming, scientists say.

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=7449

[Dogmudgeon]

2. I think this was on Countdown last night (13 March 06)

--p!