Check out this mind-blowing footage of an iceberg roughly the size of Los Angeles cracking apart from The Brunt Ice Shelf.
The British Antarctic Survey first noticed large cracks growing in this region almost a decade ago, and knew that a major separation was inevitable.
They had this to say about the event:
“The first indication that a calving event was imminent came in November 2020 when a new chasm – called North Rift – headed towards another large chasm near the Stancomb-Wills Glacier Tongue 35 km away. North Rift is the third major crack through the ice shelf to become active in the last decade.
During January, this rift pushed northeast at up to 1 km per day, cutting through the 150-m thick floating ice shelf. The iceberg was formed when the crack widened several hundred meters in a few hours on the morning of 26th Feb, releasing it from the rest of floating ice shelf.”
British Antarctic Survey: “Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica calves – A huge iceberg (1270 km²) the size of the county of Bedfordshire has broken off the 150-m thick Brunt Ice Shelf, almost a decade after scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) first detected growth of vast cracks in the ice”
Featured Image of Los Angeles Courtesy: Alek Leckszas
