New Glaciers currently hold the record for the largest avalanche in the world, but it is not even one of the 10 largest glaciers in history.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said Wednesday An iceberg It is about 7 times the size of Manhattan in New York and is separated from the Ron Ice Shelf in Antarctica, making it the largest iceberg in the world.

The satellites were discovered when the finger-shaped ice, 170 km long and 25 km wide, separated from the western part of the Ron Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Published by the Agency Tweet She has a video on Twitter showing the stages of glacier disintegration, which is now floating freely on the surface of the Weddell Sea; In West Antarctica.

A new record

Copernicus Sentinel was the first to observe the 4,320-square-kilometer glacier called “A-76” and separated from a quarter of Antarctica, which contains two satellites orbiting the Earth’s poles to the European Union.

The first Antarctic survey of the ice sheet was observed on May 13 Tweet On her Twitter.

“Another large iceberg was born in Antarctica,” he said. Sentinel 1 day (14th) “.

Another great avalanche breeding event # Antarctica! # A76 Born off the Ron Ice Shelf, it is currently the largest iceberg in the world, breaking the record from neighboring A23A. Quick image from entsentinel_hub Showing # Sentinel1 Imagery from today (14). pic.twitter.com/tdbh9FGqc7

– Laura Jerger (laura_gerrish) May 14, 2021

Its impact on sea level

Since the ice shelf that separates this mountain is already floating in the water, this event will not directly affect sea level, yet ice shelves will help slow the flow of ice and glaciers into the sea.

Therefore, the U.S. National Ice and Snow Data Center (NSIDC) estimates that the loss of parts of the ice shelf may indirectly cause sea level rise.

The center says Antarctica has enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 60 meters, but scientists do not believe human-induced climate change caused the A-76 split. Or its predecessor, the A-74.

“The A-76 and A-74 are part of the natural cycle of ice shelves that have not been separated for much of decades, and it is important to keep track of the speed at which icebergs separate, but both of these mountains were all expected at the time,” Laura Gresh added on Twitter. Currently”.

The world’s largest iceberg (20 4320 km) recently shattered the Ron Ice Shelf in Antarctica. # Sentinel1 BAS_News entsentinel_hub @ESA_EO asesascience @EO_OPEN_SCIENCE pic.twitter.com/PdQvfrNgaK

– Adrian Verle (d Adrian Verle) May 19, 2021

Previous records

The new glacier currently holds the record for the largest snowfall in the world, but it is not even one of the 10 largest glaciers in history, according to a journal The new scientist The new scientist.

There is a glacier A68a with an area of ​​6,000 square kilometers, which set a record until December 2020 before collapsing, and then changed its title to A23A, an avalanche that separated from Antarctica in 1986. 4 thousand square kilometers.

The largest iceberg ever recorded in the Southern Ocean in 1958 For the Guinness recordIt was thought to have an area of ​​about 30,000 km because scientists did not have satellite imagery at the time.

New Glaciers are not one of the 10 largest glaciers in history (Getty Images)

Other risks

This and the satellites continue to track new avalanches, such as the one used by the A-68A after its separation from the Antarctic ice sheet in 2017, and then moved to open water in 2020 due to ocean currents, almost colliding with the island of South Georgia, which is home to seals and penguins.

The site stated Live Science LiveScience had previously said that the stray mountain collapsed into dozens of pieces before wreaking havoc.

For the most part, the Ron Ice Shelf, separated from the last avalanche, survived the warm currents that hindered the natural splitting and reconstruction of Antarctic ice, but not all parts of Western Antarctica were so fortunate.

Where the site is mentioned Live Science Last April, the Twaits Glacier, or Doomsday Glacier, was found to be melting faster than expected due to the melting of the “fixation points” anchoring the eastern slopes.

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