World's Largest Iceberg 'A76' Breaks Off From Antarctica

According to the European Space Agency, the finger-shaped chunk of ice, which is about 105 miles (170 kilometers) long and 15 miles (25 kilometers) wide, and with an area of 1,668 square miles (4,320 square kilometers), was spotted by satellites as it sheared off from Antarctica and floated into the Weddell Sea. It is now the world's largest iceberg.

In November 2020, an iceberg about 100 miles long and 30 miles wide that had broken off from the Antarctic Peninsula in 2017 caused concern when it appeared to be on a collision course with the British island territory of South Georgia. However, it split and broke into pieces before it reached the island. If A76 encounters a similar current, it could reach the Antarctic Peninsula in months and disrupt shipping lanes there, according to Christopher Readinger, the Ice Center's Antarctica team lead.

A-76, which is slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca, has been monitored by scientists since May 13, when it began to separate from the Ronne Ice Shelf, according to the United States National Ice Center.

The Antarctic ice sheet is warming faster than the rest of the planet, resulting in melting snow and ice covers and glacier retreat, particularly around the Weddell Sea. As glaciers recede, ice chunks break off and float adrift until they break apart or crash into land.

According to a study published in Nature, average sea levels have risen about nine inches since 1880, with about a quarter of that rise attributed to ice melting in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, as well as land-based glaciers elsewhere.

Researchers attempted to contextualize A76's formation, claiming that the forces that separated it from the Ronne Ice Shelf were part of the shelf's normal life cycle and may not be directly related to climate change.

Researchers say that the ice shelf from which this berg calved was already floating on the water; the event will have no direct impact on the sea-level rise, as it is already displacing the same volume of water that it will add as it melts. In contrast, glaciers and ice sheets on land raise sea levels when they break off into the ocean.

However, scientists believe that the rapid disintegration of several large icebergs in recent years may be linked to global warming, as these events are becoming more common. Researchers have become concerned in recent years about several areas in Antarctica that show signs of instability due to a warming climate and shifting ocean and atmospheric currents.

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the continent of Antarctica, which is warming faster than the rest of the planet, contains enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 200 feet (60 meters).