The Rapid Ice Sheet Change Observatory (RISCO) is an inter-organizational collaboration created to provide a systematic framework for gathering, processing, analyzing, and distributing consistent satellite imagery of polar ice sheet dynamics. Prior to the formulation of RISCO, the observation of polar ice sheet dynamics was severely limited by both a lack of satellite coverage and a lack of access to consistent timely imagery.
Pine Island Glacier Finally Calves
On November 10th, a 250 sq mile iceberg, or 7.5 times the size of Manahattan, calved off the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. A rift had opened in the glacier over 2 years ago, but the iceberg stubbornley hung on, like a broken finger nail, until now. Large calving events like this happen every 4-5 years at Pine Island Glacier (the last was 2007), but this iceberg is the largest, and broke off farther inland, than ever observed.
