Scientists will also track B-22A as it moves away from Antarctica to see where and when it will break apart. Therefore, it is important that researchers monitor any changes that may be triggered by an iceberg's departure. (A68 eventually broke apart after narrowly missing South Georgia.)ĭespite melting slower than originally thought, the Doomsday Glacier remains in a precarious situation, and recent research has shown that its melt rate could rapidly accelerate in the future. ![]() Experts feared that the mighty berg would become trapped on the surrounding seafloor, like B-22A, and that its cooling effect would drastically impact the ecosystem there. In spring 2020, alarms were raised when the world's formerly largest iceberg, A68, became set on a collision course with South Georgia, an island in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Stationary icebergs can cool the surrounding waters, which can have a stabilizing effect on glaciers and other ice masses but also harm marine ecosystems if they get stuck further afield, according to the Earth Observatory. Scientists are particularly concerned about B-22A venturing away from Antarctica because it may impact the stability of the Thwaites Glacier. In March 2013, a massive iceberg named B-15T was spotted 13 years after breaking off from Antarctica, by which time it had circled half the continent. It's rare for the floating ice chunks to stay intact for more than a decade, but it is not unheard of. Once a large iceberg calves from an ice sheet or glacier, it normally takes only a few years to journey away from polar regions and into warmer waters, where it will eventually break apart. Credit: Gif from NASA Earth Observatory video by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview A timelapse of the iceberg moving away from Antarctica between Oct. As of March 26, B-22A has drifted around 110 miles (175 km) to the northwest, meaning it has traveled more than three times as far in six months than it managed in the previous 247 months. 24, 2022, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. ![]() Satellite photos from NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites revealed that the berg began to move again on Oct. The berg became stuck around 32 miles (53 kilometers) from where it was birthed, meaning it averaged a pitiful 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of movement per year, which is one of the slowest average crawls of any iceberg on record, according to NASA.īut now, the aging iceberg has been set free and is making up for lost time. During this time, B-22A has retained a lot of its original ice and covers around 1,160 square miles (3,000 square kilometers), which is around twice the size of Houston, Texas.Īfter breaking free from the glacier in the early aughts, B-22A floated freely just off the Antarctic coast until it got caught on a raised section of the seafloor in 2012. The long-lived berg, known as B-22A, is the largest remaining piece of B-22, a colossal icy mass the size of Rhode Island that snapped off Thwaites Glacier - also known as the Doomsday Glacier - in March 2002. New research published in December indicated that "Antarctica is highly vulnerable to projected increases in ocean temperatures and may drive ice–climate feedbacks that further amplify warming."Īccording to Drinkwater, "what is unsettling is that the daily data stream reveals the dramatic pace at which climate is redefining the face of Antarctica.An enormous iceberg that first broke off Antarctica's "Doomsday Glacier" more than 20 years ago is finally waving goodbye to the icy continent after being freed from the seafloor, which had trapped the ice chunk in place for over a decade. During the first week of February, the weather on the Peninsula was sunny and a preliminary record-breaking 64.9 degrees Fahrenheit - warmer than most of Texas. The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth. ![]() And, according to the European Space Agency's website, ice loss from Pine Island has already "contributed more to sea-level rise over the past four decades than any other glacier in Antarctica." ![]() However, Larter warned on Twitter that the iceberg is "part of an ice shelf at the terminus of a glacier containing enough ice" to raise the sea level by more than 0.5 meters (over 1.5 feet). What these pieces will do to overall sea level rise remains unknown. "Satellites have established a porthole through which the public can watch events like this unfold in remote regions around the world," said Mark Drinkwater, a senior scientist and cryosphere specialist.Īfter Tuesday's historic calving, the iceberg quickly shattered into many smaller pieces. Along with its neighbor the Thwaites Glacier, Pine Island has continuously lost ice over the last 25 years.
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