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Iceberg about to break off7/22/2023 This story originally appeared on Fox News and has been reproduced with permission. Though this latest iceberg is about 10 times smaller than the 2015 event, measuring between 0.6 and 1.2 miles (1 to 2 km), NASA scientists said the recent break shows how fragile the ice shelf is. NASA scientists are observing “to see if the loss will trigger the shelf to further change and possibly become unstable or break up.” Other calving events presaged the breakup of nearby ice shelves. Scientists say the event was expected and. The iceberg is set to break off an ice shelf located in the fastest-warming region of Antarctica, which is likely no accident. They said that while that most likely wouldn’t make the “top 20 list” of Antarctica’s biggest icebergs, “it may be the largest berg to break from the Brunt Ice Shelf since observations began in 1915”. A massive 600-square-mile iceberg separated from Antarctica last week in the second major break-awayor calvingfrom the area in the past two years. When that rift makes its way toward the other crack, an estimated 660 square miles of ice will break from the shelf, scientists warned. Sea levels are currently rising at a rate of 3.3 millimeters per year, and have risen by 91 millimeters since 1993, according to NASA. NASA said that while the rift was “previously stable for about 35 years, this crack recently started accelerating northward as fast as four kilometres per year”. Things certainly won’t stop there, Larter added. “It is not yet clear how the remaining ice shelf will respond following the break, posing an uncertain future for scientific infrastructure and a human presence on the shelf that was first established in 1955,” the scientists wrote.Īs one notable crack, which appeared in October 2016, continues to progress east, scientists said their “more immediate concern” is a large rift running through the Brunt Ice Shelf. See what satellites captured: /WrI1p3bqVC- NASA February 24, 2019 The splitting could result in an uncertain future for the shelfâs scientific research & human presence. “We have been tracking the movement of the ice shelf for many years and our modelling indicates that this breakaway is entirely expected,” said Professor Hilmar Gudmundsson, also from Northumbria University.Cracking across Antarcticaâs Brunt Ice Shelf is set to release an iceberg w/ an area about 2x the size of NYC. So, is this due to climate change? The scientists think not, describing it as “a natural process.” The British Antarctic Survey’s Halley Research Station, which was previously situated on an affected section of the iceberg, has been moved to a safer location. The iceberg about to calve off the Larson-C shelf will be about half the size. At least one small fragment persists to this day. That distinction belongs to iceberg B-15, that was larger than the island of Jamaica. “Once the iceberg breaks away from the Brunt Ice Shelf, it is likely to drift towards the west and slowly break up into smaller icebergs,” said Dr Jan De Rydt, of Northumbria University. Icebergs calve off Antarctica all the time, but this one might be different. The iceberg will be one of the largest ever recorded, although not the largest. When the two intersect, a large piece of the iceberg, measuring more than 1,500 square kilometres, will break away into the ocean. This area off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada has been dubbed 'Iceberg Alley.' Icebergs are large chunks of ice that break off of glaciers and float in the ocean. The Brunt Ice Shelf currently has two cracks (Chasm 1 and Halloween Crack) that are growing larger. A large chunk of iceberg in the Antarctic, twice the size of New York City, is due to break away any time soon. Scientists just witnessed the largest iceberg ever, called A-76, break away from Ronnes Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
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