There is no evidence that climate change played a significant role in this event, the BAS said. The glaciological structure of this vast floating ice shelf is complex, the British Antarctic Survey said, and the impact of calving events is unpredictable. Since the ice is already floating, the newly created iceberg won’t contribute to rising sea levels. Ice shelves are floating sheets connected to a landmass, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Our job now is to keep a close eye on the situation and assess any potential impact of the present calving on the remaining ice shelf." "Four years ago we moved Halley Research Station inland to ensure that it would not be carried away when an iceberg eventually formed. "This is a dynamic situation," Simon Garrod, director of operations at the British Antarctic Survey, said in a statement. The 12-person team working at the station left in mid-February, and the station is closed for the Antarctic winter. Glaciologists said the research station is unlikely to be affected by the calving event, which is what the breaking process is called. The British Antarctic Survey’s Halley Research Station is on the Brunt Ice Shelf. More: Massive iceberg nearly the size of Delaware breaks off Antarctica The event wasn't a surprise: “Our teams at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have been prepared for the calving of an iceberg from Brunt Ice Shelf for years," BAS director Jane Francis said in a statement. “It’s a fine line because we definitely don’t want people to think that climate change isn’t happening,” Fricker added.Watch Video: Iceberg larger than New York City breaks off AntarcticaĪ massive iceberg broke off Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf, British researchers announced.Īt 490 square miles, the berg is bigger than New York City, which is 302 square miles.Ī crack in the ice shelf widened several hundred meters Friday before the iceberg sheared off. The last major chunk to come off in this area was in the early 1970s, the BBC said. “It’s really important that the public doesn’t get confused and think that this is climate change,” Fricker said.Īn iceberg that was three times larger broke off Antarctica two years ago, she said, causing panic at the time. The east of Antarctica - where D28 broke off - is different from the west of the continent and Greenland, which are rapidly warming due to climate change. The gain in mass comes from snow falling on the continent and glaciers that move slowly toward the shore. They want to stay the same size,” said Fricker, a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California. “Ice shelves have to lose mass because they gain mass. The figures are huge, but iceberg production is part of the normal cycle of ice shelves, which are an extension of the ice cap, she said. It is about 210 meters (yards) thick and contains 315 billion tons of ice, American glaciologist Helen Amanda Fricker said. It measures 1,582 square kilometers (610 square miles), according to the European Copernicus program. The iceberg, dubbed D28, broke away from the Amery ice shelf between September 24 and 25, according to observations from European and American satellites. WASHINGTON: A more than 600-square-mile iceberg broke off Antarctica in recent days, but the event is part of a normal cycle and is not related to climate change, scientists say.
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