Massive chunks of glacier collapse in this epic time lapse video.
Back in 2008, two guys journeyed to a remote part of Western Greenland to film what has now gone on record as the largest glacier calving event that was ever captured on film. The calving event at the Ilulissat Glacier lasted for a duration of 75 minutes, during which time the glacier retreated a full mile across a calving face that was three miles (five kilometres) wide.
Jeff Orlowski and Adam Lewinter captured the footage on May 28, 2008, which is now featured in a film, Chasing Ice.
SEE ALSO: Collapse of a Greenland Glacier Would Raise Sea Levels by 18 Inches
How can we understand the magnitude of this iceberg-forming event? Well, the film producers of Chasing Ice compared the calving event to the island of Manhattan. To put it into perspective, imagine that the entire lower part of Manhattan Island broke off from the glacier and that the glacial ice was several times taller than the skyscrapers in New York City. Really incredible to consider! We recommend watching the video in full screen to experience the full scale of events!
Editor's note (February 4): This article was written by Johannes Van Zijl but was originally atrributed to another author. We appologize for any misunderstandings this may have caused.
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