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What caused the crack in Antarctica?
This ice split happened due to a natural process, and there’s no evidence that climate change played a role, according to the statement. The Brunt Ice Shelf, a 492-foot-thick (150 meters) slab of ice, flows west at 1.2 miles (2 km) per year and routinely calves icebergs.
Is there a crack in Antarctica?
The so-called “North Rift” crack is the third major chasm to actively tear across the Brunt Ice Shelf in the last decade. A giant iceberg, more than 20 times the size of Manhattan, just split off from Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf.
Why is the ice breaking in Antarctica?
In recent decades, however, scientists have said climate change is causing worrisome changes across the Antarctic region. Global warming can, for instance, accelerate an ice shelf’s retreat and cause it to collapse, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
What happens when an ice shelf breaks?
If an ice shelf collapses, the backpressure disappears. The glaciers that fed into the ice shelf speed up, flowing more quickly out to sea. Glaciers and ice sheets rest on land, so once they flow into the ocean, they contribute to sea level rise.
How big is the crack in Antarctica?
about 490 square miles
The British Antarctic Survey research group announced the calving on Friday, estimating the new berg to be about 490 square miles (1,270 square kilometers) in size, which makes it about as big as the city of Los Angeles. From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week.
What is the ice crack called?
crevasse
A crevasse is a deep crack, crevice or fissure found in an ice sheet or glacier, or earth.
Where is the iceberg that broke off Antarctica?
Weddell Sea
The world’s largest iceberg — thrice the size of Delhi — has broken off from Antarctica last week. It split off the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, the European Space Agency (ESA) informed.
Where is a 74 iceberg?
Antarctic Brunt Ice Shelf
Iceberg A-74 is an iceberg that calved from the north side of the Antarctic Brunt Ice Shelf in February 2021. Its calving had been anticipated due to large ice rifts that opened up in September 2019 and spread in the Antarctic summer of 2020–21.
Where is a-76 now?
In mid-May 2021, A-76, currently the world’s largest floating iceberg, calved from the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica. According to the news, the new iceberg, effectively a piece of floating ice shelf, detached from western side of the Ice Shelf. It now floats in the Weddell Sea.