Big 490-square-mile iceberg breaks off Antarctica ice shelf
An iceberg about 20 times the size of Manhattan broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Weddell Sea section of Antarctica during the past day following the buildup of a large crack in the floating ice over the past decade. The iceberg covers about 490 square miles and is 492 feet thick, according to the British Antarctic Survey, or BAS.
The iceberg is large, but not as huge as the iceberg that calved from the Larsen C Ice Shelf in 2017 and recently threatened to run aground on South Georgia Island.
The BAS maintains the Halley Research Station that will be unaffected by the calving, the organization said. In 2016, the BAS moved the station, built on skis, to protect it from spreading cracks that could have left it floating out to sea on an iceberg.
The past decade has seen three major cracks develop through the floating ice shelf, according to a BAS news release.
“Four years ago, we moved the Halley Research Station inland to ensure that it would not be carried away when an iceberg eventually formed. That was a wise decision,” Simon Garrod, director of operations at the BAS, said in the news release. No one is at the base as it is staffed only during the Antarctic summer research season.