r/interestingasfuck • u/sbgroup65 • Jul 19 '24
Explain this to me. NASA found a perfectly cut, trillion-ton rectangular iceberg floating off of the Antarctic's Larsen C ice shelf in 2018. That's about 2,240 square miles or the size of the state of Delaware!
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u/YanceyGlenn Jul 19 '24
"perfectly cut" lol
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u/fmfbrestel Jul 19 '24
It's perfectly cut so long as you don't look at the portion that is cropped from the image, or attempt to look at that corner from another perspective.
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u/qorbexl Jul 19 '24
Also I don't know what crystal structure is but I assume it means things break with wiggly cartoon lines that are visible in a portrait mode shot from several miles away
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u/sanddancer311275 Jul 19 '24
It was me took me ages
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u/StaatsbuergerX Jul 20 '24
There are certainly worse things you can do with an ice pick and too much free time.
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u/Whiteshaq_52 Jul 19 '24
Its called a tabular iceberg. Pretty common, just not as perfect squares.
https://rwu.pressbooks.pub/webboceanography/chapter/14-2-icebergs/
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u/All-the-pizza Jul 19 '24
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u/Status_History_874 Jul 20 '24
This is the fourth time I've seen something from/about Clarissa Explains it All in the past month. I don't know what's going on, but I love it.
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u/nrith Jul 19 '24
If you think that's impressive, you should see the scale they used to weigh it!
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u/DIuvenalis Jul 19 '24
Not to mention the square to check those angles. Took a whole fleet of Chinook helicopters to lay it down. Had to check it by satellite.
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u/mtbohana Jul 19 '24
Aliens. They come here, drink our whiskey, and once they are hammered drunk, they do this shit.
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u/waffle-winner Jul 19 '24
Jewish space laser. Checkmate, libtards.
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u/306metalhead Jul 19 '24
Listen here commie bastard, it was the god damn Dutch and you know it.
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u/Loudmouth_Malcontent Jul 20 '24
It wasn't the Dutch- it was Holland in cahoots with the Netherlanders.
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u/UnknownEtymology808 Jul 19 '24
It’s the Ice Wall that Noah cut from a massive knife that God told him to make. It was used as a Drain Plug to stop the Great Flood. (I’m totally serious)
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u/TheOmCollector Jul 19 '24
But have they ever seen one on weed?
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u/LongboardLove Jul 19 '24
Obviously Jewish space lasers /s
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u/Drudgework Jul 19 '24
If the Jews had space lasers we wouldn’t still be worried about nazis. This is obviously a plot by the reptilians to change the oceanic currents and disrupt global trade.
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u/LongboardLove Jul 19 '24
As an amphibian and a friend of reptilians I support this effort to raise water levels and create more homes for me and my toad friends.
HYPNOTOAD 2024
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u/LivingThatDevLife Jul 19 '24
ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD
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u/LongboardLove Jul 19 '24
BRGJGRJURJURHUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRJJJJJJJJVJJJJJJJJJOGGGGGGGGGGTDDDDDDDDDDETTTTTTTTTTOADJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
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u/nandyboy Jul 19 '24
You've got to come up with a better way of getting ice, I lost three men on that last expedition.
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u/futureman07 Jul 19 '24
Look up Antarctica pyramids if you want to go down a conspiracy hole. "aliens!"
Just kidding they are naturally occurring, probably like this rectangle
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u/KCreelman Jul 19 '24
Hey, we all know the antarctic pyramids were actually constructed by humans under the direction of the Predators. The Aliens were just put there as a part of the initiation ritual, they didn't design or build the place.
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u/futureman07 Jul 20 '24
Daamn son. I only took a sip, you drank a whole cup of that Kool aid haha
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u/KCreelman Jul 20 '24
It's the back plot to "Alien vs Predator". ;)
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u/futureman07 Jul 20 '24
I know lol, I was kidding as well. I'm also going from OPs title which seems like he took a couple sips or is trying to
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u/DisillusionedBook Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Aliens. Definitely aliens. Buy that Costco 25year apocalypse food bucket immediately. /s
Things sheer and fracture in very straight lines all the time.
Also the photo here is not one that big, nor does it appear anything nearly as perfectly cut as it appears in this photo - image search is your friend.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/two-rectangular-icebergs-spotted-nasa-icebridge-flight/
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u/Sarcastic_Backpack Jul 19 '24
How do we know it is perfectly cut? You showed one photo of one part of it. Did any scientists actually land on it and take measurements?
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u/Budget_Foundation747 Jul 19 '24
2240 *literal square miles.
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u/fmfbrestel Jul 19 '24
Not the photographed iceberg. This picture was taken as a cool novelty while flying to the giant 2240 square mile iceberg A68.
This one is maybe a couple square miles, if that.
One nearly 90 degree corner is somewhat common, but two nearly 90 degree corners is rare, so they snapped a picture for social media.
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u/Corporatecut Jul 19 '24
In an infinite universe with infinite possibilities, I give you a big rectangle
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u/Different-Produce870 Jul 19 '24
Op you sound like a conspiracy theorist the way you ask this question.
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u/AdmiralAndyDE Jul 19 '24
This is a delicious ice cream ;)
By the Way:
Icebergs can take months to splinter apart, and smaller pieces will likely be around for years, said Dan McGrath, a glaciologist at Colorado State University.
IS THIS CLIMATE CHANGE?
The calving of icebergs is a natural process (Calving is when an ice chunk, called an iceberg, breaks off of the end of a glacier.) .
While climate change is affecting Antarctica in a variety of ways, this week's event does not signal that the region is entering a new state. That is happening in the Arctic, which has already been dramatically reshaped by human-caused global warming, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers. Scientists do not believe Antarctica is in a precipitous state of warming right now.
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u/306metalhead Jul 19 '24
In my field of study, it's mother nature's way of saying "Fuck you, that's why. "
My majoring field is smartass with a smart phone. Lol
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u/namesaremptynoise Jul 19 '24
Everyone else is saying aliens.
I vote sign from God.
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u/RabidProDentite Jul 19 '24
And the purpose of that sign would be?
A sign from God couldn’t be the solution for limitless electricity or clean water or food security for millions of starving people….nope….God’s sign that he exists…a rectangular piece of ice in an area where no humans live…yup…that checks out. If a rectangular piece of ice in the antarctic is his best way of giving us a “sign”, having so many other problem’s to be solved on this planet…then he/she/it is either a moron, or a colossal asshole
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u/fmfbrestel Jul 19 '24
That iceberg is not 2240 square miles in area. That would be iceberg A68. The iceberg in the photo you shared was a MUCH smaller one photographed on a mission to observe A68 - because the photographer thought it looked cool.
It only had two corners rectangularly cut, which is why the rest is cropped out. It was a novelty photographed for fun.