Gigantic Iceberg Nearly Smashes Into Antarctic Ice Shelf

After lying dormant for over half a year , the populace ’s secondly largest iceberg has at last sprung to life — and it narrowly head off a collision that could have leave in an even larger crisphead lettuce .

Iceberg A-74calvedfrom Antarctica ’s Brunt Ice Shelf in late February , but it did n’t do much in the subsequent months , preferring to loiter around its place of birth in the Weddell Sea . At 490 straight stat mi ( 1,270 square kilometers ) , it ’s presently the second largest free - floating iceberg in existence .

The big iceberg , A-76,brokeoff the Ronne Ice Shelf in May and is presently 1,668 square miles ( 4,320 square kilometers ) . Neither of these ‘ iceberg are to be confused with A68a , which held the deed of conveyance of biggest iceberg until itsdisintegrationearly this year .

Iceberg A-74 and the Brunt Ice Shelf as they appeared on August 11, 2021.

Iceberg A-74 and the Brunt Ice Shelf as they appeared on 29 November 2024.Image: ESA/Sentinel-1

But the situation has changed for A-74 , as sea current and hard jazz have compel the crisphead lettuce to broaden its horizons and result the nest . Radar range take by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 planet missionary post from August 9 to 18 show A-74 moving south and splay counterclockwise , as the European Space Agency explains in astatement .

As it was moving , however , A-74 nearly smashed into the Brunt Ice Shelf . And in fact , it softly grazed and touch the ice ledge from which it formed . The ice ledge is only 492 pes ( 150 beat ) thick , and it sport several prominent cracks , or rifts , including Chasm 1 ( the longsighted shot that runs vertically from the southernmost stop of the meth ledge ) and the Halloween crack ( a newer tornado that appears just above Chasm 1 in the range ) .

“ The nose - shaped small-arm of the ice ledge , which is even larger than A-74 stay on connected to the Brunt Ice Shelf , but barely , ” Mark Drinkwater , a research worker from the ESA ’s Mission Science Division , explained in the statement . “ If the berg had collided more violently with this objet d’art , it could have speed the fracture of the remaining crank bridge , causing it to break away . ”

Animation showing the movements of iceberg A-74 from August 9-18, 2021.

Animation showing the movements of iceberg A-74 from August 9-18, 2021.Gif: ESA/Sentinel-1

It ’s possible that a stronger hit could ’ve jostle the Brunt Ice Shelf , causing another mammoth iceberg to form . Such an iceberg would have measured 656 square miles ( 1,700 square kilometers ) in size , concord to the ESA . A “ minor impact ” was report , and the “ prospective berg remains tenuously attached in the vicinity of McDonald Ice Rumples , where the icing shelf is locally grounded on the sea floor , ” writes ESA .

As an aside , the footnote map provide by the ESA register the location of theHalley VI enquiry place . give the precarious state of the ice shelf , the modular post , which rests on skis , was go 12 mi ( 20 km ) from Chasm 1 .

More : Once the world ’s large iceberg , A68a is now a tattered muddle .

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