"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
news:20150228210100.740d6c25@linux-pkou...

And here's another one showing charts of Arctic and Antarctic ice in
greater detail (after you click on the appropriate map):
http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr2/

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Thanks, that's clearly a more detailed and informative representation. The
grid shows the size of the separated ice mass at roughly 5° longitude by 5°
latitude (albeit at near polar latitudes), but still a pretty sizeable area,
so something like the UK in size would that be? (Or not - can't quickly get
a sense of how much smaller in area each 5x5 grid 'square' at eg 70°S is
compared to mid-latitudes?)

But the colour scheme does show, as Graham noted, that the overall area is
much more heterogeneous in terms of ice density that the simplistic map in
my original nsidc link suggested, with a substantial proportion in the range
50-75% ice concentration rather than as a single solid ice mass. But still
there remains a large core to the 'island' which is at or close to 100%.

I'm still curious as to what forces caused this ice island seemingly to
fracture along such a long southerly boundary so that it could float free.
Is this just a natural wind/current/weather phenomenon or could there be
some eg volcanic heating from underneath? Or something like a discrete
warmer (relatively!) current of water running below the surface maybe at the
boundary of the ice shelf and the sea ice? Or is it a chunk of ice shelf
that's calved off?