![]() ![]() ![]() Marine biologist Dr Katrin Linse, the BAS researcher leading the mission, said: 'The calving of A-68 provides us with a unique opportunity study marine life as it responds to a dramatic environmental change. Led by the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the group will study tiny animals, microbes and plankton on the seafloor to see how they cope with severe changes to their environment.Īs part of preliminary research for the trip, the team have taken aerial footage of the iceberg to monitor how far it has drifted to sea - the very first video captured of the berg since it calved from Larsen C last year. When A-68 separated from Larsen C, it revealed an ocean hidden under the ice shelf for 120,000 years, and a team of scientists are now studying the region to uncover some of the hidden ecosystem's mysteries. Stunning aerial clips capture the huge crack in Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf that led to the third largest iceberg ever recorded breaking off from the continent last July. Its position back in November, 2017 is shownĮarlier this year, scientists released the first-ever footage of 'A-68', a trillion-ton iceberg the size of Delaware that has broken off from Antarctica. While the huge chunk of ice, estimated to be about the size of Delaware, has moved around some, the experts say its surroundings have kept it somewhat locked into place. Glaciologist and former Project MIDAS collaborator Martin O'Leary told Earther a collision is 'certainly possible' he doubts it would have much of an effect on either the iceberg or shelf given the slow-motion speed at which it would occur.Įventually, O'Leary says the prevailing ocean currents will push the iceberg northwards and eastwards into the Southern Ocean 'where it will probably break up and melt.' It is believed a 'temperature anomaly' on 20 July 2018, when it was almost 20 ☌ warmer than the mean over the Weddell Sea and Larsen Ice shelf, may have triggered the rotation beginning. I should think we will see some interesting collisions with the ice shelf in the next few months.' 'It has a spectacular amount of momentum and it's not going to stopped easily. ![]() 'My guess is that A68a will continue rotating as it is now around that western point, until what is currently the northern edge collides with the Larsen C ice front. “It’s a fine line because we definitely don’t want people to think that climate change isn’t happening,” Fricker added.'You can see at between 7-12 July 2018 the weather conditions and ocean currents conspire to swing the trillion tonnes of the giant iceberg A68 in an anticlockwise direction,' he said. “It’s really important that the public doesn’t get confused and think that this is climate change,” Fricker said.Īn iceberg that was three times larger broke off Antarctica two years ago, she said, causing panic at the time. The east of Antarctica - where D28 broke off - is different from the west of the continent and Greenland, which are rapidly warming due to climate change. The gain in mass comes from snow falling on the continent and glaciers that move slowly toward the shore. They want to stay the same size,” said Fricker, a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California. “Ice shelves have to lose mass because they gain mass. The figures are huge, but iceberg production is part of the normal cycle of ice shelves, which are an extension of the ice cap, she said. It is about 210 meters (yards) thick and contains 315 billion tons of ice, American glaciologist Helen Amanda Fricker said. It measures 1,582 square kilometers (610 square miles), according to the European Copernicus program. The iceberg, dubbed D28, broke away from the Amery ice shelf between September 24 and 25, according to observations from European and American satellites. WASHINGTON: A more than 600-square-mile iceberg broke off Antarctica in recent days, but the event is part of a normal cycle and is not related to climate change, scientists say. ![]()
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