"A chunk of ice twice the size of Manhattan has parted from Greenland’s Petermann glacier, a break researchers at the University of Delaware and Canadian Ice Service attributed to warmer ocean temperatures."

"The separation along Greenland’s northwest coast, which took place Monday, represents the second major calving event for the glacier in the past three years. In August 2010, the Petermann glacier lost an area of roughly 97 square miles, compared with the 46 square miles that just split off this week.

Andreas Muenchow, an associate professor of physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware, said the glacier’s end point is now at “a location where it has not been for at least 150 years.'

'The Greenland ice sheet is changing rapidly before our eyes,' Muenchow said in an interview, adding that while 'no individual glacier will be the canary in the coal mine' recent warming has transformed the overall ice sheet."

Juliet Eilperin and Jason Samenow report for the Washington Post July 17, 2012. [2]