An iceberg, nearly four times the size of Delhi, broke off from a crucial ice shelf in West Antarctica. The incident has been confirmed by the scientists.
The iceberg, touted as one of the largest ever recorded, weighs one trillion tonnes and is spread across an area of 5,800 square kilometres, with a thickness of 350metres.
The breaking off of the iceberg, known as ‘calving’, was imminent and the scientific community worldwide had observed a developing rift in the ice-shelf.
Scientists had begun studying this ice-shelf closely after the collapse of Larsen A shelf in 1995 and Larsen B in 2002. Scientists have said that the calving of the iceberg has reduced the size of the Larsen C ice shelf by twelve per cent.
This was a typical process of calving of ice shelves, which is a natural phenomenon that may be accelerated due to global warming. “The intrusion of warm ocean water coupled with warm air-circulation chips away at the ice-shelves.
When the warm water comes into contact with the shelf, it creates slopes eventually resulting in breaking away of icebergs,” said Navin Pandey, a Ph.D.scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Pandey was part of a 15-member NCAOR team that visited Maitri and Bharti, the two Indian research stations in Antarctica.
This will lead to sea-level rise ahead.
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