A giant iceberg of 1,270 square kilometers has broken away from Antarctica, the UK Antarctic Survey said.
This is practically comparable to the territory of St. Petersburg.
The iceberg has broken away from the Brunt Ice Shelf, which houses the British research station Halley. More than ten years ago, large cracks began to appear on a 150-meter-thick glacier. In January, one of the largest crevasses began to grow rapidly, its length increasing by one kilometer per day. On Friday, February 26, in a few hours, this crevice widened by several hundred meters, as a result of which an iceberg was formed.
According to the service, this does not pose a danger to the station, since back in 2016 it was moved inland, so that in the event of an iceberg breaking away, it would not be carried away with it. Twelve staff members left the station in mid-February due to the onset of the Antarctic winter.
"Our Antarctic Survey UK teams have been prepared to break the iceberg from the ice shelf for several years. We monitor the glacier on a daily basis using high-precision GPS instruments that are near the station and measure how the glacier is changing and where it is going," said Service Manager Jane Francis.
According to her, scientists use images from satellites of the European Space Agency, NASA and the German TerraSAR-X spacecraft. Talking about the direction of the iceberg, Frances noted that it could move away from the continent or run aground and stay close to the glacier.
