Iceberg DEATHMATCH: Berlin vs Manhattan

The BBC has challenged ScienceDaily's Manhattan as the unit of measurement for icebergs – presenting the Berlin as an alternative quantifying the surface area of whopping pieces of ice.

Back in August, ScienceDaily explained that a piece of the Sulzberger Ice Shelf dislodged by the Tohoku Tsunami "was about four by six miles [6.4 x 9.6km] in surface area – itself about equal to the surface area of one Manhattan".

We were quite taken with the concept, but the Beeb reckons the Manhattan is entirely inadequate to describe the imminent "birthing of a giant iceberg" from the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica.

The Corporation insists: "US space agency (Nasa) researchers expect the eventual iceberg to cover about 880km² – an area the size of Berlin."

Well, this simply won't do. We suggest an international conference of top experts and media pundits is rapidly convened to settle the matter once and for all, before the situation gets out of hand, and we have iceberg Beijings, Washingtons and Moscows battling for supremacy.

Furthermore, given the urgency of the situation, we demand people get round the table within one Kardashian. The Kardashian, since you ask, is a potential Reg standard suggested by reader Paul Bolander, equalling 72 days. ®

Bootnote

Thanks to Damian Davis for the Berlin tip-off.