A huge iceberg has broken off from the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, just 12 miles (19 km) from where British scientists are working at a research station.
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The iceberg has a thickness of 490 feet (150 m) and an area of ​​600 square miles (1,550 sq km) – roughly the size of Greater London.
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It broke at a large crack that bisected the ice shelf, known as Chasm-1, which had been growing about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) every year since 2012.
GPS sensors picked up movement in Chasm-1 between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, when it spread about 40 miles (60 kilometers) across the shelf.
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The iceberg broke off at a large rift that split the ice shelf, known as Chasm-1 (pictured), which had been growing about 2.5 miles (4 km) each year since 2012.
GPS sensors picked up movement in Chasm-1 between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday, when it spread about 40 miles (60 km) across the shelf.
Fortunately, all 21 staff working at Halley Research Station with British Antarctic Survey (BAS) were completely safe, and were preparing for the event.
Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS, said: ‘Measurements of the ice shelf are carried out several times a day using an automated network of high-precision GPS instruments around the station.
‘These measure how the ice shelf deforms and moves, and compare this with satellite images from ESA, NASA and the German satellite TerraSAR-X.
‘All the data is sent back to Cambridge for analysis, so we know what’s happening even in the Antarctic winter – when the station is unmanned, it’s dark 24 hours a day and the temperature can drop to -58°F ( -50°F) goes below °C).’
Glaciologists have confirmed that the ice field on which the station is located remains unaffected by the event.
In 2016, continued development of Chasm-1 prompted BAS – the National Institute for Polar Research – to relocate to a location 14 miles (23 kilometers) inland.
CHAS-1 (pictured) lay dormant for 25 years before 2012, when satellite monitoring showed it was starting to move
While it will not be the largest iceberg to break away from Antarctica, it is the largest chunk of the ice shelf lost since observations began in 1915, 100 years ago. Image: Chase-1
The ‘calving event’ of the weekend was completely natural – not linked to climate change at all – and caused by a spring tide. Calving is a natural phenomenon caused by the forward movement of a glacier causing its end to become unstable.
The ‘calving event’ of the weekend was completely natural – not linked to climate change at all – and caused by a spring tide.
BAS glaciologist Professor Dominic Hodgson said: ‘This calving event has been expected and is part of the natural behavior of the Brunt Ice Shelf.
‘Our science and operations teams continue to monitor the ice shelf in real time to ensure it is safe, and to maintain the delivery of the science we do at Halley’.
Calving is a natural phenomenon caused by the forward movement of a glacier causing its end to become unstable.
During a calving event, part of the end of a glacier falls off, often forming an iceberg.
The Halley VI Research Center (pictured) is an internationally important platform for atmospheric and space weather observations in the climate-sensitive region
It sits on the Brunt Ice Shelf, which floats on the frozen continent and flows at a rate of about 1.5 miles per year.
Crews are deployed to the station between November and March to maintain facilities that allow them to remotely monitor experiments during the winter
While it will not be the largest iceberg to break away from Antarctica, it is the largest chunk the ice shelf has lost since observations began in 1915, 100 years ago.
CHAS-1 had been inactive for at least 35 years before 2012, when satellite monitoring showed it was starting to move.
In 2015 and 2016, scientists used ice-penetrating radar technologies and satellite images to determine what the fracture might take, and at what speed it might move.
By December, Chasm-1 was chipping away at most of the ice, marking the start of the calving event.
The iceberg it formed, which will be named by the US National Ice Center, is predicted to drift into the Weddell Sea, but glaciologists will track its movement.
The Halley VI Research Center is an internationally important platform for atmospheric and space weather observations in a climate-sensitive region.
It is lying vacant during…