• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Huge Iceberg Has Broken Free From Antarctic Ice Shelf At Last

January 25, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

A large iceberg “the size of Greater London” has broken off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The calving event on January 22 is believed to be fully natural and a long time coming. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has been documenting the crack for decades, and in 2016 even made the decision to pick up and move their research base 23 kilometers (14 miles) further inland to avoid danger, a wise move as it has now snapped off. 

The Brunt Ice Shelf is 150 meters ( 492 feet) thick and the iceberg that calved from it has a surface area of 1,550 square kilometers (598 square miles). That it’s bigger than the area of cities like New York and Los Angeles, and only slightly smaller than London. The crack that caused the rupture was called Chasm-1, which became active again in 2012 after being dormant for 35 years.

Advertisement
#Antarctica have shared this animation from their GPS equipment over the last 36 hours, showing the separation of the huge new iceberg. pic.twitter.com/2txR0Q81yt— British Antarctic Survey (@BAS_News)

After it began to widen over the following years, in 2016 the BAS decided to shift the Halley base 23 kilometers (14.3 miles) inland by basically putting it on skis and being towed by a tractor. The call to move it was indeed correct as now Chasm-1 has cut off the portion of the Ice Shelf the Halley VI research laboratory used to occupy.

A satellite image showing hte new iceberg chasm-1 that has broken off the west brunt ice shelf in antarctica

The British Antarctic Survey’s previous Halley VI location was just about the t in “Brunt” on the iceberg. Image credit: BAS

“Our glaciologists and operations teams have been anticipating this event. Measurements of the ice shelf are carried out multiple times a day using an automated network of high-precision GPS instruments that surround the station,” Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS said in a statement.

“These measure how the ice shelf is deforming and moving, and are compared to satellite images from ESA, NASA and the German satellite TerraSAR-X. All data are sent back to Cambridge for analysis, so we know what is happening even in the Antarctic winter – when there are no staff on the station, it is dark for 24 hours and the temperature falls below minus 50 degrees C (or -58F).”

In 2021, the A-74 iceberg calved from the Brunt Ice Shelf, which is showing the cracks where the new iceberg will eventually break off. Image credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

In 2021, the A-74 iceberg calved from the Brunt Ice Shelf, which is showing the cracks where the new iceberg will eventually break off. Image credit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Calving events happen regularly although predicting the exact moment is not possible. Brunt seems to be less affected than the Larsen C Ice Shelf when it comes to the climate crisis and the team doesn’t believe that it played a significant role in this event.

“This calving event has been expected and is part of the natural behaviour of the Brunt Ice Shelf. It is not linked to climate change. Our science and operational teams continue to monitor the ice shelf in real-time to ensure it is safe, and to maintain the delivery of the science we undertake at Halley,” Professor Dominic Hodgson, BAS glaciologist, added.

The iceberg will be given an official name by the U.S. National Ice Center.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Norway coalition talks start, with climate and oil in focus
  2. Indonesian fintech Xendit is now a unicorn, with $150M in fresh funding led by Tiger Global
  3. U.S. Senator Cruz vows to block new Democratic debt ceiling ploy
  4. Yellen says U.S. may exhaust cash by Oct 18 barring debt ceiling rise

Source Link: Huge Iceberg Has Broken Free From Antarctic Ice Shelf At Last

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Is The Spiny Devil Katydid The Strangest Insect In The World? You Tell Us
  • Yep, You Can Milk A Snake – These Scientists Extract Venom From Some Of The Deadliest Snakes
  • The Last Remaining Soft Tissues Of A Dodo Date To 1683 CE – And Are Still Going Strong
  • This Indigenous Tribe Has Tragically Forgotten How To Dance, Sing Lullabies And Make Fire
  • Nepal’s Snow Leopard Population Is Bigger Than Previously Thought, But Still Mysterious
  • The Amazon’s “Dark Earth” Was Created By Ancient People Thousands Of Years Ago
  • Watch A Gorgeous White Stingaree Swimming Along The Seafloor
  • Starbase City: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Gets Its Own Municipality In Texas, Complete With A Familiar Mayor
  • What Is The Specific Purpose Of These Lines On Towels?
  • Just 0.001 Percent Of The Deep Ocean Has Been Directly Observed
  • First Ever Image Of “Free Floating” Atoms Snapped By MIT Scientists
  • The Haenyeo “Sea Women” Of Korea Have Evolved For A Life Under The Sea
  • Was Alcatraz Inescapable? A Study Suggests A 1962 Jailbreak May Have Been A Success
  • Title Of Ancient Burnt Herculaneum Scroll Identified For First Time In 2,000 Years
  • New Species Of Incredible “Accordion Worm” Can Squish Down To One-Fifth Of Its Original Size
  • New US Bill Asks NASA To Tackle Relativistic Effects On The Moon And Mars
  • Largest Dam Removal Project In The World Triggers Return Of Salmon After Years Of Campaigning
  • The World’s Most Powerful Superconducting Electromagnet Will Soon Power The Quest For Fusion
  • Japan’s RESILIENCE Lander Will Enter Lunar Orbit Today
  • Australian Mammals’ Black Light Glow Is Caused By Several Different Molecules
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version