Question:

Can the recent break-up of large icebergs in the Antarctic be blamed on global warming?

Answer:

During the first half of this year, satellites observed several large plates of ice drifting around the edge of the Antarctic continent near Chili, with impressive areas of between 2,000 and 3,000 km². Apart from the fact that even larger plates detached during the 1960s before the question of climatic warming first arose, it will be noted that "calving" of icebergs is a normal phenomenon around islands such as the Antarctic and Greenland. Glaciers slide under their own weight. Therefore, break up around the edge of these ice sheets is mechanically inevitable, without there being any direct link with the average temperature of the atmosphere.