an iceberg the size of New York breaks out, not far from a British station

Brunt Ice Shelf calves along North Rift chasm – A 1270 km² #iceberg has broken off the #BruntIceShelf.#HalleyVI Research Station is closed for the winter and unlikely to be affected.

Full story: https://t.co/l13QrWdnB0

????️ #NorthRift, #Antarctica, 16 Feb 2021, BAS_News pic.twitter.com/QyNt7sVOzT

— British Antarctic Survey (@BAS_News) February 26, 2021

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A “wise decision” without a doubt, judge Simon Garrod, director of operations at BAS. “Our job now is to monitor the situation closely and assess any potential impact of this detachment on the remaining ice shelf “, he explained. The drift of this ice monster was therefore not a surprise for the agency accustomed to this type of environmental rupture, which keeps multiplying due to the global warming.

The station closed for the arctic winter

“Our teams have been prepared for years for an iceberg to break off the Brunt ice shelf,” assured Jane Francis, director of the agency, saying that the faults are monitored “daily. “, thanks to “an automated network of high precision GPS instruments”.

This network sends all the data and information collected to Cambridge University for analysis. A work that allowed Friday to raise the alarm on the drift of one of the largest icebergs identified. According to the director of the BAS, it risks “to get away or run aground and stay” on site, in the coming months. As for the monitoring station, it will remain closed for the remainder of the arctic winter.

Another gigantic block of ice has recently caught the attention of scientists. “The A68a”, the largest iceberg in the world, 175km long, drifted 1,500 km for more than two years until the end of 2020. South of the Atlantic, it finally broke up under the surveillance of satellites and military planes.