A huge iceberg 15 times the size of Paris broke away from Antarctica on Sunday, British scientists said today.
The phenomenon is not related to climate change, although the region is threatened by global warming, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
The 1,550-square-kilometer iceberg broke away Sunday as tides widened a pre-existing crack in the ice called Chasm 1, according to polar research organization BAS.
Two years ago, an iceberg of about the same size formed in the same area, the so-called Brad Ice Bank, where the British research station Halley V is located.
Glaciologists, who are in this area from November to March, have been observing the development of cracks in the ice for about 10 years. In 2016, BAS decided to move the Hali V station 20 km, fearing that as the ice melted, it could end up on an iceberg.
“This alienation was expected and is the normal behavior of Ice Bank Brand. It has nothing to do with climate change,” explained ice scientist Dominic Hodgson.
Antarctica is suffering from the effects of climate change and recorded record temperatures last year. In 2021, the complete melting of an iceberg 4,000 kilometers from where it broke away in 2017 released more than 150 billion tons of fresh water, which worried scientists as they did not know what the consequences would be for the region’s fragile ecosystem.
Source: APE-MPE, AFP.
Source: Kathimerini
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