British Antarctic Survey twitted that a massive iceberg has broken off from Antarctica. The A-74 iceberg has a size of 490 square miles (1,270 sq.km.) or twice the size of New York City did calve on Feb. 26, 2021.
Scientists said that the calving event occurred almost a decade after they first discovered vast cracks growing in the ice.
“Over coming weeks or months, the iceberg may move away; or it could run aground and remain close to Brunt Ice Shelf. Halley Station is located inland of all the active chasms, on the part of the ice shelf that remains connected to the continent. Our network of GPS instruments will give us early warning if the calving of this iceberg causes changes in the ice around our station.”
Currently, researchers are closely monitoring the situation to assess any potential effect of the present calving on the remaining ice shelf.
Brunt Ice Shelf calves along North Rift chasm - A 1270 km² #iceberg has broken off the #BruntIceShelf.#HalleyVI Research Station is closed for the winter and unlikely to be affected.
— British Antarctic Survey (@BAS_News) February 26, 2021
Full story: https://t.co/l13QrWdnB0
📽️ #NorthRift, #Antarctica, 16 Feb 2021, @BAS_News pic.twitter.com/QyNt7sVOzT
"Over the following weeks and months, the iceberg could be entrained in the swift south-westerly flowing coastal current, run aground or cause further damage by bumping into the southern Brunt Ice Shelf. So we will be carefully monitoring the situation using data provided by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission," Drinkwater said.
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