![]() ![]() When an iceberg breaks from an ice shelf, an adjustment in the flow of ice into the ice shelf follows, which may influence the behavior of other cracks in the area and contribute to destabilization of the Brunt Ice Shelf over time. “This calving event has been expected and is part of the natural behavior of the Brunt Ice Shelf,” Glaciologist Dominic Hodgson said. Unlike the Larsen C Ice Shelf - which had extensive surface meltwater at the time of its collapse in 2017 - there is no evidence that climate change played a significant role in the changes with the Brunt Ice Shelf. When ice shelves like Larsen C are lost, it allows land-based ice to flow into the ocean more quickly, contributing to sea-level rise.įact check: Greenhouse gases are a driving factor in global warming, contrary to post GPS instruments surrounding the station take multiple daily measurements of the ice shelf and researchers' observations provide key information on atmospheric and space weather in a climate-sensitive zone. The BAS Halley Research Station, which relocated 14 miles inland of Chasm-1 a few years ago after it began to widen, was unaffected by the recent break off. With six Halley research stations on the Brunt Ice Shelf since 1956 – the calving event, although unexpected time-wise, has long been anticipated. And in October 2022, satellites spotted the world's largest iceberg, A-76A, as it entered the Drake Passage and began drifting toward the equator.Scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who monitor the behavior of the ice shelf - the part of a land-based ice sheet that floats on the ocean - first observed this crack extending in 2012 after having been dormant for some decades, according to the European Space Agency. 22 after an enormous chasm finally snapped the ice sheet in half. In early March, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey took the first aerial photographs of A81, an iceberg the size of Los Angeles that broke off from the Brunt Ice Shelf on Jan. Icebergs can dump a lot of fresh water as they melt, which can impact ecosystems and ocean currents as they slowly die: A68 dumped more than 1 trillion tons of water into the ocean over a period of three years.ī-22A is not the only major Antarctic iceberg to embark on a journey recently. When an iceberg breaks from an ice shelf, an adjustment in the flow of ice into the ice shelf follows, which may influence the behavior of other cracks in the area and contribute to destabilization of the Brunt Ice Shelf over time. Scientists will also track B-22A as it moves away from Antarctica to see where and when it will break apart. Massive Antarctic iceberg was ripped in two by powerful ocean currents Arctic 'ghost island' that vanished may have actually been a dirty iceberg World's largest iceberg disintegrates into 'alphabet soup,' NASA photo shows Therefore, it is important that researchers monitor any changes that may be triggered by an iceberg's departure. off oating ice shelves in large and infrequent calving events Fricker et al., 2002, while smaller icebergs form by more frequent smaller calving events, breaking fragments off the sides of larger icebergs Wagner et al., 2014, or in rare events, as a result of ice-shelf disintegration Scambos et al., 2004. (A68 eventually broke apart after narrowly missing South Georgia.)ĭespite melting slower than originally thought, the Doomsday Glacier remains in a precarious situation, and recent research has shown that its melt rate could rapidly accelerate in the future. ![]() Experts feared that the mighty berg would become trapped on the surrounding seafloor, like B-22A, and that its cooling effect would drastically impact the ecosystem there. In spring 2020, alarms were raised when the world's formerly largest iceberg, A68, became set on a collision course with South Georgia, an island in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Stationary icebergs can cool the surrounding waters, which can have a stabilizing effect on glaciers and other ice masses but also harm marine ecosystems if they get stuck further afield, according to the Earth Observatory. Scientists are particularly concerned about B-22A venturing away from Antarctica because it may impact the stability of the Thwaites Glacier. ![]() In March 2013, a massive iceberg named B-15T was spotted 13 years after breaking off from Antarctica, by which time it had circled half the continent. It's rare for the floating ice chunks to stay intact for more than a decade, but it is not unheard of. Once a large iceberg calves from an ice sheet or glacier, it normally takes only a few years to journey away from polar regions and into warmer waters, where it will eventually break apart. A time lapse of the iceberg moving away from Antarctica between Oct. ![]()
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