A giant slab of ice almost 4 times bigger than New York City, has sheared off from the frozen edge of Antarctica into the Weddell Sea, and according to European Space Agency, it has become the largest iceberg floating in the World right now. The newly calved berg was spotted in recent satellite images captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, said the space agency in the statement posted on its website.
“An enormous iceberg has calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf, lying in the Weddell Sea, in Antarctica. The iceberg, dubbed A-76, measures around 4320 sq km in size – currently making it the largest berg in the world,” said ESA.
If we compare New York city’s total area of land and water is 1,213 sq. km whereas the Spanish Island of Mallorca occupies 3,640 sq. km. This enormous 4,320 square kilometer iceberg is the world’s largest iceberg known to date and has been called A-76. A-76 was first detected by British Antarctic Survey and is also confirmed by the US National Ice Center based in Maryland.
The Ronne ice shelf on the flank of the Antarctic Peninsula is one of the largest floating sheets of ice that connect to the Continent’s landmass and expand out into the nearby seas.
Periodic calving off of the calving chunks of these shelves is kind of part of the natural cycle. But, some ice shelves have undergone rapid breakdown in recent years along with the Antarctic peninsula and according to scientists, this detachment of the iceberg (A-76 – the world’s largest iceberg) might be related to climate change.
So, this was all about a recent update. Don’t forget to drop your views in the comment section and stay tuned for further updates.
