![]() ![]() On the positive side, as the iceberg melts, it will release a lot of nutrients that could benefit the growth of microscopic plants such as phytoplankton at the base of the oceanic food webs. It is the largest fragment of the world's previous biggest iceberg, the Rhode Island-size A-76, which broke off from the western side of Antarctica's Ronne Ice Shelf in May 2021 and later. "These impacts may be both positive and negative. Professor Geraint Tarling, head of the Ecosystems team at BAS, said: "An iceberg of this size will have a big impact on the ocean ecosystems which support the rich diversity of marine wildlife found in this Antarctic region. A giant iceberg, more than 20 times the size of Manhattan, just split off from Antarcticas Brunt Ice Shelf. This was due to a warm water current from the east whittling away at the vital "pinning points" that anchor the shelf to the land.Įditor's Note: This article was updated to correct the relative size of the iceberg.The Brunt Ice Shelf is one of the most closely watched ice shelves in the world, and UK scientists say their research station has been unaffected by recent events.Ī BAS team of scientists completed a circumnavigation of A76A in January, gathering water samples to help understand the environment better. Science World's biggest iceberg breaks off from Antarctica A-76, which is 4,320 square kilometres, now floating in the Weddell Sea CBC News Posted: 5:34 AM PDT Last Updated. Live Science reported in April that the Thwaites Glacier, or the "Doomsday Glacier," was discovered to be melting faster than previously thought. But not all parts of West Antarctica have been quite so lucky. Back in late May, an iceberg roughly 105 miles long and 15 miles wide was spotted by scientists as it broke from the western side of Antarctica’s Ronne Ice Shelf, according to the European. The Ronne Ice Shelf, which birthed the recent iceberg, is mostly spared from influxes of warm water that disrupt the Antarctic's natural cycle of ice calving and regrowth. Its surface speeds exceed 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) per year near its grounding line. ![]() ![]() B-09I is located at 6635’ South, 14223’ East in the Wilkesland Sea, and measures 14 nautical miles on its longest axis and 6 nautical miles on its widest axis. Thwaites Glacier, nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier, is an unusually broad and vast Antarctic glacier flowing into Pine Island Bay, part of the Amundsen Sea, east of Mount Murphy, on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land. Friction and slip are found to be highly variable in space. The rogue berg shattered into a dozen pieces before it caused any harm, Live Science previously reported. This particular iceberg calved from iceberg B-09B, which had been grounded near the new iceberg’s present position since 1993. Icequake observations were combined with an analytical friction model to measure friction and slip at the bed of an Antarctic ice stream. After splitting from the Antarctic ice sheet in 2017, A-68A was set loose by ocean currents in 2020 and came perilously close to colliding with South Georgia Island, a breeding ground for seals and penguins. 1302 likes, 20 comments - British Antarctic Survey (britishantarcticsurvey) on Instagram: A huge iceberg the size of Greater London has calved off. Satellites will continue to track the new iceberg, much as they did for A-68A, the previous title holder for the world's largest iceberg. "It's important to monitor the frequency of all iceberg calving, but these are all expected for now." "A76 and A74 are both just part of natural cycles on ice shelves that hadn't calved anything big for decades," Laura Gerrish, a researcher at the British Antarctic Survey, wrote on Twitter. ![]()
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