Greenland glacier loses massive chunk

It was twice the size of Manhattan. And on Monday, the large piece of ice separated from the  Petermann glacier in northwestern Greenland.

University of Delaware researcher Andreas Muenchow and the Canadian Ice Service attributed the event -- the second major "calving" event for the glacier in the past three years -- to warming ocean temperatures, according to a story today in the Washington Post and other news outlets.

Muenchow reported the event in his Icy Seas blog.

In an interview with the Post, Muenchow said, "

"The Greenland ice sheet is changing rapidly before our eyes. While "no individual glacier will be the canary in the coal mine" recent warming has transformed the overall ice sheet, he said.

"The Greenland ice sheet is being reduced not just in size, but in volume," he told the Post. "The big and broader climate change story is what's happening all around Greenland."