An iceberg of the size of the Spanish island of Majorca has broken off the coast of Antarctica. The measurements of the broken iceberg taken from the satellites and the planes have confirmed that it is now the world’s largest.
The European Space Agency has informed that the Iceberg A-76 calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica and is now floating on the Weddell Sea.
The broken iceberg is measured around 170 kilometers (105 miles) long and 25 kilometers (15 miles) wide, that's larger than the Long Island in New York and half the size of Puerto Rico.
Icebergs are formed when a large piece of ice breaks off from the ice shelves or the glaciers and start floating in the open water.
Relive the birth of the #A76 iceberg with this stunning animation!
— ESA EarthObservation (@ESA_EO) May 20, 2021
The animation was created using four @CopernicusEU #Sentinel1 images and shows the giant slab of ice breaking off from the Ronne Ice Shelf on 13 May 2021.
A-76 is currently the biggest iceberg in the world😱 pic.twitter.com/h97PbYdo0y
Global Warming leads to melting of snow and ice covers:
The Antarctica sheet has been warming faster than the rest of the planet. It causes the melting of the snow and ice covers as well as the retreat of the glaciers, particularly around the Weddell Sea.
As glaciers retreat, portions of ice break off and float adrift until these portions break apart or further crash into the land.
| In 2020, the current took the Iceberg A-68A, which was the world’s largest at the time, from Antarctica to the coast of the South Georgia Island. Scientists and researchers feared that the iceberg will collide with an island that’s a breeding ground for penguins and sea lions. However, it ended up splitting and breaking into pieces instead. |
Rise in sea levels:
According to a study published in Nature earlier in May 2021, the average sea levels have risen about nine inches since 1880.
About the quarter of that increase in sea levels comes from the ice melting in Greenland and the Antarctica ice sheets, along with the land-based glaciers elsewhere.
The global rise in the sea level began around the start of the 20th century. Between the years 1900 and 2016, the average sea level globally had risen by 16-21 cm.
Climate scientists and researchers expect that the rate of sea-level rise will further accelerate during the 21st century. The latest statistics state that the sea levels have been rising by 3.6mm per year.
What should be done to stop the rise in sea levels?
According to the study done by 85 scientists from 15 countries concluded that more ambitious national goals to cut greenhouse emissions and for slowing down the climate change set recently by the countries around the world are not enough to stop the sea levels from rising.
The melting ice glaciers and ice sheets, in fact, will raise the sea levels twice as fast as they would if the nations globally fulfilled their earlier pledges under the Paris Agreement.
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