The ice, however, is a part of the Antarctic peninsula that has warmed fast in recent decades. "If Larsen C now starts to retreat significantly and eventually collapses, then we will see another contribution to sea level rise," he added.īig icebergs break off Antarctica naturally, meaning scientists are not linking the rift to manmade climate change. "This resulted in the dramatic acceleration of the glaciers behind them, with larger volumes of ice entering the ocean and contributing to sea-level rise," said David Vaughan, glaciologist and director of science at British Antarctic Survey. The Larsen A and B ice shelves, which were situated further north on the Antarctic Peninsula, collapsed in 19, respectively. The iceberg, which is likely to be named A68, was already floating before it broke away so there is no immediate impact on sea levels, but the calving has left the Larsen C ice shelf reduced in area by more than 12 percent. In 2009, more than 150 passengers and crew were evacuated after the MTV Explorer sank after striking an iceberg off the Antarctic peninsula. The peninsula is outside major trade routes but the main destination for cruise ships visiting from South America.
The ice will add to risks for ships now it has broken off. Some of the ice may remain in the area for decades, while parts of the iceberg may drift north into warmer waters," he added. "It may remain in one piece but is more likely to break into fragments. "The iceberg is one of the largest recorded and its future progress is difficult to predict," said Adrian Luckman, professor at Swansea University and lead investigator of Project MIDAS, which has been monitoring the ice shelf for years. Throughout the Antarctic winter, scientists monitored the progress of the rift in the ice shelf using the European Space Agency satellites. The iceberg has been close to breaking off for a few months. The one trillion tonne iceberg, measuring 5,800 square km, calved away from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in Antarctica sometime between July 10 and 12, said scientists at the University of Swansea and the British Antarctic Survey. In the largest jump since January, the rift in the Larsen C Ice Shelf has grown an additional 17 kilometres between May 25 and May 31.(function() ) LONDON, July 12: One of the biggest icebergs on record has broken away from Antarctica, scientists said on Wednesday, creating an extra hazard for ships around the continent as it breaks up. The break off will produce one of the largest ever recorded icebergs at the South Pole. The rift tip is now within 13 kilometres of breaking all the way through to the ice front. LONDON: A big rift on the Antarctic ice shelf has grown an additional 17 kilometres in last six days, say scientists who suggest that a massive iceberg is now at the brink of breaking off. "We have previously shown that the new configuration will be less stable than it was prior to the rift, and that Larsen C may eventually follow the example of its neighbour Larsen B, which disintegrated in 2002 following a similar rift-induced calving event," researchers said. The event will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula. When it calves, the ice shelf will lose more than 10 per cent of its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever recorded. Larsen C Ice Shelf is about 350 metres thick and floats on the seas at the edge of West Antarctica, holding back the flow of glaciers that feed into it. Ice originating at the Cole Peninsula and there appears to be very little to prevent the iceberg from breaking away completely, according to scientists of the Project MIDAS based at is based at Swansea University and Aberystwyth University in the UK. The rift has now fully breached the zone of soft 'suture' The rift tip appears also to have turned significantly towards the ice front, indicating that the time of calving is probably very close.
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