Calving of A-76 and size comparison with the island Mallorca.

In mid-May 2021, A-76 was, before it broke into three,[1] the world's largest floating iceberg, calved from the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.[2][3][4]

The new iceberg, effectively a piece of floating ice shelf, detached from western side of the ice shelf. It floated through the Weddell Sea and by 2023 had reached the South Atlantic near South Georgia, carried by currents and winds.[5] The iceberg is about 170 km (110 mi) long and 25 km (16 mi) wide, and is described as being shaped like a "giant ironing board", and roughly the size of Cornwall.[5] The size at calving was an estimated 4,320 km2 (1,670 sq mi).

Iceberg A-76a in March 2023.

The new iceberg was first spotted by Keith Makinson, a polar oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey in May 2021.[6]

By day 148,[7] the iceberg consisted of three fragments, A-76a, A-76b, and A-76c.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Largest iceberg (current)
  2. ↑ Fahy, Claire (2021-05-20). "Iceberg Splits From Antarctica, Becoming World's Largest". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  3. ↑ Kottasová, Ivana (May 20, 2021). "World's largest iceberg breaks off from Antarctica".
  4. ↑ Vaughan, Adam. "World's largest iceberg has just broken off an Antarctic ice shelf". New Scientist.
  5. 1 2 Amos, Jonathan (13 March 2023). "Scientists track iceberg the size of London". Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  6. ↑ @keithmakinson1 (May 13, 2021). "New giant #iceberg breaking away from the Ronne Ice Shelf" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ "Day of Year chart". Day of year site.
  8. ↑ Current* Antarctic large iceberg positions derived from ASCAT and OSCAT-2** (June 1, 2021). "Current* Antarctic large iceberg positions derived from ASCAT and OSCAT-2**". Current* Antarctic large iceberg positions.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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