An iceberg the size of Greater London has broken away from Antarctica.
The huge breakaway was spotted by The British Antarctic Survey and shows the huge piece of ice moving away from the Antarctica ice-shelf directly south of Latin America. It is believed to measure 1,270 square km - nearly 490 square miles and is one of the largest recent breakaways recorded. The research base used by The British Antarctic Survey is only 20km away from the split, but there is not believed to be any imminent danger to those working there.
Prof. Adrian Luckman, who has been following the breakaway, said:
"Although the breaking off of large parts of Antarctic ice shelves is an entirely normal part of how they work, large calving events such as the one detected at the Brunt Ice Shelf on Friday remain quite rare and exciting. With three long rifts actively developing on the Brunt Ice Shelf system over the last five years, we have all been anticipating that something spectacular was going to happen. Time will tell whether this calving will trigger more pieces to break off in the coming days and weeks. At Swansea University we study the development of ice shelf rifts because, while some lead to large calving events, others do not, and the reasons for this may explain why large ice shelves exist at all."
This is the first major breakaway from the 'Brunt ice Shelf' since the 1970s. Scientists do however say that this breakaway is not related to global warming. Indeed, such a breakaway has been expected for years according to Dame Jane Francis who works with The British Antarctic Survey. She told reporters:
"Our teams at BAS have been prepared for the calving of an iceberg from the Brunt Ice Shelf for years. We monitor the ice shelf daily using an automated network of high-precision GPS instruments that surround the station, these measure how the ice shelf is deforming and moving. We also use satellite images from the European Space Agency, Nasa and the German satellite TerraSar-X. All the data are sent back to Cambridge for analysis, so we know what's happening even in the Antarctic winter, when there are no staff on the station and it's pitch black."
Greater London is estimated to cover 1,500 square km. This would make the breakaway ice-sheet only slightly smaller at 1,270 square km. It isn't quite as big though as a previous ice breakaway that took place on the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the western side of the Weddell Sea in 2017. Breakaways must be carefully watched in order to avoid potential collisions with ships and other vessels.
[h/t: BBC]
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