The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Wednesday that an iceberg about 7 times the size of Manhattan in New York has separated from the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica, making it the largest iceberg currently in the world.
The finger-shaped piece of ice, about 170 km long and 25 km wide, was spotted by satellites as it separated from the western side of the Ron Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
In a tweet, the agency posted a video showing the stages of the split of the glacier, which is now floating freely on the surface of the Weddell Sea.
In West Antarctica.
Glacier separated from the Rhone escarpment is finger-like (European Space Agency)
A new record
The glacier, whose area is 4,320 square kilometers, was taken and called "A-76", and the reason for the name is its separation from the A quarter of the Antarctic, where it was first observed by Copernicus Sentinel. To the European Union, which consists of two satellites orbiting the poles of the Earth.
The British Antarctic Survey was the first party to monitor the beginning of the iceberg's separation on May 13th, in a tweet.
"Another great iceberg was born in Antarctica," said Laura Girish, a researcher with the authority, "The A-76 was born from the Ron Ice Shelf and is currently the largest iceberg in the world, having the record from the adjacent A23a. Sentinal 1 day (14th) ".
Another big iceberg calving event in #Antarctica!
# A76 has calved from the Ronne Ice Shelf and is currently the biggest iceberg in the world, taking the record from the neighbor A23a.
Quick image from @sentinel_hub showing # Sentinel1 imagery from today (14th).
pic.twitter.com/tdbh9FGqc7
- Laura Gerrish (@lauragerrish) May 14, 2021
Its effect on sea level
Because the ice shelf that this mountain separated from was already floating on the water, this event would not directly affect sea levels, yet ice shelves help slow the flow of glaciers and glaciers into the sea.
Consequently, the loss of portions of the ice shelf indirectly contributes to rising sea levels, according to the US National Ice and Snow Data Center (NSIDC).
The center also says Antarctica, which is warming faster than the rest of the planet, contains enough frozen water to raise the global sea level by 60 meters, but scientists do not believe that human-induced climate change is what caused the A-76 split. Or its close predecessor A-74.
"Both A-76 and A-74 are just part of the natural cycle of ice shelves that have not been separated by any major chunks for decades, and it is important to monitor the pace of the icebergs separating, but these two mountains are all that was expected at the time," Laura Gresh added on Twitter. Present".
The world's largest iceberg (~ 4320 km²) recently broke off the Ronne Ice Shelf, Antarctica # Sentinel1 @BAS_News @sentinel_hub @ESA_EO @esascience @EO_OPEN_SCIENCE pic.twitter.com/PdQvfrNgaK
- Adrien Wehrlé (@AdrienWehrle) May 19, 2021
Previous records
Although the new iceberg currently holds the record for being the largest in the world, it is not even among the 10 largest icebergs in history, according to the New Scientist.
There is A68a, the glacier with an area of 6 thousand square kilometers, which set the record until December 2020 before it crumbled, then the title moved to A23A, an iceberg that separated from Antarctica in 1986 and has an area of 4 thousand square kilometers .
As for the largest iceberg ever, it was observed in the Southern Ocean in 1958, according to the Guinness Book of Records, as it was thought to be about 30,000 km, an estimate because scientists did not have satellite images at that time.
The new glacier is not among the 10 largest glaciers in history (Getty Images)
Other risks
This, and the satellites continue to track the new iceberg, just as they did with the A-68A after it separated from the ice sheet in Antarctica in 2017, and then moved it in open waters due to ocean currents in 2020, and almost collided with South Georgia Island, which is Home to seals and penguins.
And Live Science previously reported that the stray mountain broke into dozens of pieces before causing damage.
Often, the Ron Ice Shelf, from which the last iceberg has separated, has survived the warm water flows that disrupt the natural cycle of separation and re-formation of Antarctic ice, but not all parts of West Antarctica have been so fortunate.
Live Science reported in April that the Thwaites glacier, or Doomsday Glacier, was found to be melting faster than expected, and that this was due to a warm water current dissolving the "fixings" that anchor the cliff to the east. .