Chasing ice, massive glacier collapse in Greenland
The historic breakup at the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland, filmed for the Chasing ice project.
Working for the Chasing Ice project which aims to capture geologic change on film, on 28 May 2008 Adam LeWinter and Jeff Orlowski observed the biggest breakup of a glacier ever witnessed when the tongue of the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland collapsed. The "magical, miraculous, horrible, scary" calving lasted 75 minutes, resulting in the glacier retreating a full mile. To get an idea of the scale, the ice is circa 1000m high, with only 100m above the water. In the last 10 years this glacier has retreated more than it has done in the last 100.
