"How long this will take and how much the iceberg will fragment before reaching the island, as well as the exact trajectory are hard to predict, though," she told AFP. Last year the berg, by then known as A-68a after a piece snapped off, appeared to be on a collision course with a remote South Atlantic island home to thousands of penguins and seals, threatening to impede their ability to gather food.īut it broke apart before it could cause any damage to the abundant wildlife in the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia.Īnne Braakmann-Folgmann, a researcher in iceberg motion at the School of Earth and Environment at Leeds University, said it was likely A-76 would follow the trajectory of A-68 towards South Georgia. The monstrous A-68 iceberg calved in 2017 from the Larsen ice shelf, which has warmed faster than any other part of Earth's southernmost continent.Īt 5,800 km2, 350 meters thick and weighing a trillion tons A-68 was one of the largest icebergs ever seen. It may be a giant, but A-76 is by no means the largest iceberg in recent years. It joins previous world's largest title holder A-23A - approximately 3,880 sq km in size - which has remained in the same area since 1986.Ī-76 was originally spotted by the British Antarctic Survey and the calving - the term used when an iceberg breaks off - was confirmed using images from the Copernicus satellite, the European Space Agency said. The iceberg, measuring around 170 kilometres (105 miles) long and 25 kilometres wide, with an area of 4,320 square kilometres is now floating in the Weddell Sea. Slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca, A-76 had been monitored by scientists since May 13 when it began to separate from the Ronne Ice Shelf, according to the US National Ice Center. LARGEST ICEBERG BREAKS OFF ANTARCTICA SERIESIt is the latest in a series of large ice blocks to dislodge in a region acutely vulnerable to climate change, although scientists said in this case it appeared to be part of a natural polar cycle. A huge ice block has broken off from western Antarctica into the Weddell Sea, becoming the largest iceberg in the world and earning the name A-76.
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