Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctic Brunt Ice Shelf - View From Space
A 1550 square km (963 sq mi.) iceberg, designated A81, recently broke off Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf. A time-lapse of the 'calving process' was captured by satellites, according to ESA.
Credit; ESA - European Space Agency
Credit; ESA - European Space Agency
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00:48 - An enormous iceberg has carved
00:49 from Antarctica's brunt ice shelf.
00:52 After several years of desperately clinging on,
00:56 the berg broke away as confirmed by satellite data.
01:00 Scientists estimate the new berg
01:03 to be around 1,550 square kilometers.
01:07 That's the size of greater London
01:10 or five times the size of Malta.
01:14 The brunt ice shelf borders the Coatsland Coast
01:17 in the Weddell Sea sector of Antarctica.
01:19 Glaciologists have monitored
01:22 the thick brunt ice shelf for years.
01:25 The new berg carved when the crack known as Chasm 1
01:31 split northwards, severing the west part of the ice shelf.
01:34 It was only a matter of time
01:38 before it would meet the Halloween crack.
01:40 First spotted on, you guessed it, Halloween.
01:44 After several years on watch for brunt iceberg carving,
01:48 we finally witnessed a long-awaited separation
01:50 of the western brunt ice shelf as Iceberg A81.
01:54 - Routine monitoring from satellites
01:58 offers unparalleled views of events
02:00 happening in remote regions.
02:02 The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission carries radar,
02:06 which returns images regardless of day or night.
02:12 This allows us year-round viewing,
02:14 which is especially important
02:16 through the long, dark winter months.
02:18 The British Antarctic Survey's Halley 6 Research Station,
02:25 where glaciologists have been monitoring
02:27 the behavior of the ice shelf,
02:29 was relocated in 2017 to a more secure location
02:33 after the ice shelf was deemed unsafe.
02:36 The station has remained unaffected by the carving event.
02:41 There are currently 21 staff working at the station
02:44 to keep scientific operations running through winter.
02:47 It is now around 20 kilometers from the line of rupture.
02:52 - Thanks to the Copernicus Sentinel satellites,
02:58 together with in-situ and airborne measurements
03:00 made by the British Antarctic Survey,
03:03 the safety of the Halley base has been preserved.
03:05 - In February 2021, a giant berg broke off
03:10 from the northern section of Brunt.
03:12 Spotted by Sentinel-1, it has already drifted away
03:19 from the Brunt ice shelf into the Weddell Sea.
03:22 So what happens now?
03:25 The carving of icebergs can speed up the flow of ice
03:28 from an ice shelf.
03:29 If Brunt now experiences an acceleration,
03:32 it could influence the behavior of other cracks in the area.
03:35 - The carving and separation
03:38 of the latest iceberg A81 now focuses attention
03:42 back onto the Hallowe'en crack,
03:44 whose extension could contribute to further destabilization
03:47 of the remaining eastern portion of the Brunt ice shelf.
03:51 We will continue using the Copernicus Sentinel satellites
03:54 to closely monitor the behavior and stability
03:56 of the remaining Brunt ice shelf.
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