The largest ice shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula (Larsen C) separated and formed one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, according to the Guardian.
5,800 sq km part separated from Antarctica
The formation of the iceberg took place between Monday, July 10 and Wednesday, July 12 when a part of the Larsen Glacier with an area of 5,800 square kilometers finally separated, the University Of Swansea in Wales reported.
Previously, researchers warned that if the iceberg broke away, it would result in the loss of a tenth of the entire glacier. Over the past fifty years, the Antarctic Peninsula's temperature has risen by 2.5 degrees Celsius.
In 1995, Larsen A -- with an area of four thousand square kilometers -- was completely destroyed by climate change. In the early 2000s, an iceberg (B-15) split off from the Ross Ice Shelf.
Last year, NASA received images of a giant crack 112 kilometers long, about 500 meters deep, and 100 meters wide in Larsen C. This year by July, a crack in the ice shelf grew rapidly and increased to 200 kilometers in length and the ice's mass reached one trillion tons.
What do scientists believe?
"We see one large iceberg for now. It is likely that it will break into smaller pieces as time goes by,” said Adrian Luckman from the University of Swansea who led the research in the Antarctic. It is noted that the mass of the glacier is a trillion tons, and its area is comparable to Wales -- an area in the United Kingdom.
Specialists of the MIDAS project are watching the glacier and how the crack in it has increased over the past ten years. The crack was discovered back in 2010 and has since been observed with the help of the NASA Aqua MODIS satellite, which transmitted the image of the glacier in the thermal infrared range. Scientists say that this has reduced the area of the ice shelf by about 12%.
Breaking news! The iceberg has fully detached from Larsen C - more details to follow soon pic.twitter.com/pdSxDuAGjR
— Project MIDAS (@MIDASOnIce) July 12, 2017
British scientists believe that the shelf will become less stable, but in any case, this process will take many years. Particularly, the UK’s MIDAS project has been following the shelf since 2011.
“There is enough ice in Antarctica that if it all melted, or even just flowed into the ocean, sea levels would rise by 60 meters,” said Martin Siegert, Professor of Geosciences at Imperial College London.
The news of the giant iceberg was declared after the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, which was signed by more than 190 countries to stop global warming.
