LONDON: An iceberg four miles (six kilometers) wide has broken off from a glacier in eastern Greenland and scientists have captured the dramatic event on video.
New York University professor David Holland, an expert in atmospheric and ocean science, told The Associated Press that “this is the largest event we’ve seen in over a decade in Greenland.”
A June 22 video of the incident was taken by his wife, Denise Holland of NYU’s Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. They had camped by the Helheim Glacier for weeks to collect data to better project sea level changes due to global warming.
Holland said Wednesday that the time-lapse video, which is speeded up 20 times, shows “3 percent of the annual ice loss of Greenland occur in 30 minutes.”
“It sounded like rockets going off,” he said, describing it as “a very complex, chaotic, noisy event.”
While the couple is studying Greenland, he said that “the real concern is in Antarctica, where everything is so big the stakes are much higher.”
In northwestern Greenland, another large iceberg was apparently grounded on the sea floor near the small village of Innaarsuit, which has a population of 169.
“Its residents were evacuated in the early hours of Friday in fears that a flood would hit the place as a result of the broken iceberg,” Greenland police spokeswoman Lina Davidsen told Danish broadcaster TV2.
“All the people in the danger area have been evacuated to a building that is further up in the village,” Davidsen said. “The evacuation happened only because the iceberg is so close to the village.”
Innaarsuit is located about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and largest city.
Earthquakes and tsunamis have created major floods in Greenland in the past years.
Iceberg 4 miles wide breaks off from Greenland glacier
Iceberg 4 miles wide breaks off from Greenland glacier
- In northwestern Greenland, another large iceberg was apparently grounded on the sea floor near the small village of Innaarsuit
- All the people in the danger area have been evacuated to a building that is further up in the village
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
