antarctica iceberg breaks off september 2020

In September, Antarctic sea ice set a new record when it reached a maximum extent that was more than a million square kilometres below the previous record low set in 1986. Researchers have been shocked by recent climate extremes in Antarctica, including record-high temperatures and vast areas of missing sea ice, which serve to buffer the continent’s ice shelves from warmer water and waves.Īfter reaching a record low in 2022, sea ice around the continent did not recover as much as usual this year, remaining far below average into the southern winter. However, Greene says it is clear that icebergs are breaking off Antarctica at a faster rate than snow is adding mass to the ice, “meaning climate change is causing the Antarctic Ice Sheet to lose mass at a significant rate”. Greene also says that its behaviour resembles a normal iceberg life cycle. Is the movement of the iceberg linked to climate change?įleming told the BBC that researchers do not think there is a clear link between the iceberg’s recent movement and warmer waters driven by climate change. The iceberg does not pose a threat to people, although it may become a problem for wildlife, such as penguins or seals, if it runs aground in their feeding or breeding grounds in the Southern Ocean. It measures 1,636 square kilometres (632 square miles) in area, is 210 meters (689 feet) thick and weighs a massive 315 billion tons. Satellite image of the Antarctic iceberg A23a in November 2023Įuropean Union/Copernicus Sentinel-3 via Reuters The table iceberg, named D-28 by scientists, broke off the shelf in east Antarctica on September 26. “Icebergs this big can hang around for decades in one place, then one day decide to go for a jolly,” says Greene. He says it is not uncommon for these giant icebergs to get stuck in place and stay that way, kept from melting much in the near-freezing Antarctic waters. “Icebergs are like earthquakes – we get lots of tiny ones, and a few really big ones like A23.” How rare are giant icebergs like this one?Ĭhad Greene at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California says a large iceberg like A23a calves off of one of Antarctica’s ice shelves about once a decade the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf sees such an event about once every 50 years. That behemoth, known as A-76, measured 4320 square kilometres when it broke off from West Antarctica in 2021. While this makes it the largest iceberg now bobbing in the world’s oceans, it is not the largest on record. It covers nearly 4000 square kilometres, an area more than four times as big as New York City.

Antarctica iceberg breaks off september 2020