A 492-foot-thick, 490-square-mile iceberg broke off the Brunt ice shelf on Friday, according to a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) statement. The section, which measures more than New York City, parted ways with BAS ‘Halley research station, which was closed for the season earlier this month.
The research station will probably not be affected by the break. Researchers say the first sign of calving came in November last year, when a fissure known as the North Rift became active, breaking into a precipice known as the Stancomb-Wills Glacier, nearly 37 miles away.
“The iceberg formed when the fissure widened by several hundred meters in a few hours on the morning of February 26, freeing it from the rest of the floating ice shelf,” BAS said in a press release.
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BAS Director of Operations Simon Garrod called the break “a dynamic situation”. Three cracks have been detected over a decade, including Halloween Crack and Chasm 1.
“Our task now is to closely monitor the situation and assess any potential impact of the current calving on the remaining ice shelf,” Garrod said in a press release.
Professor Dame Jane Francis, director of the British Antarctic Survey, said the team has been preparing for such an event for years, monitoring the movements and deformations of the Brunt ice shelf even when BAS is not at the Halley research station. Researchers stay at the station only in summer, because the winter months are dark and frozen, which makes them difficult to observe.
Everyone guesses what the ice shelf will do next. “In the coming weeks or months, the iceberg may move away; or it may fall apart and stay close to the Brunt ice shelf,” Francis added.