Iceberg 109 miles long and 16 miles wide breaks off Antarctica

20 May 2021, 17:47

A slab of ice bigger than the island of Majorca has broken off Antarctica and is floating free in the sea, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

The iceberg, named A-76, is 109 miles long and 16 miles wide.

It was spotted by the British Antarctic Survey and confirmed by the US National Ice Center using satellite images.

The ESA shared an animation of the iceberg splitting from the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The imagery came from Copernicus Sentinel-1, which consists of two polar-orbiting satellites.

Glacier geophysicist at British Antarctic Survey, Alex Brisbourne, said: "It’s not an area that is undergoing any significant change because of global heating. The main message is it’s part of a natural cycle."

He later added: "It’s big enough to influence the ocean, and the salinity of the ocean. Depending on the trajectory, it could be as significant as A-68A."

A-68A was one of the largest icebergs of all time and broke from the Larsen-C Ice Shelf in 2017.

Before A-76 was discovered, the largest iceberg to break off in the Weddell Sea - A-23A - was approximately 3880 sq km.

The A-74 iceberg that broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in February was only 1270 sq km in comparison.

The ESA explained that icebergs are named after the area in which they are first seen, a sequential number and, if they break, another sequential letter.