A huge iceberg has broken off in East Antarctica. About 1,200 square kilometers of colossus – about the size of Rome – is said to have lost connection to the mainland, the Guardian said on Friday, citing polar researchers. The US National Ice Center previously confirmed that the iceberg previously known as the Conger Ice Shelf had broken away. An ice shelf is a large sheet of ice that floats in the sea but is connected to the mainland.
NASA expert Catherine Colello Walker described the event in The Guardian as “one of the most important demolitions in Antarctica since the beginning of the 21st century.” While the researcher does not expect a major impact, she warned, “It’s a sign of what may come.”
The Conger ice shelf has been shrinking from the middle of the first decade after the turn of the millennium, but only very gradually – it did not increase significantly until early 2020, Walker said. On March 4 this year, the area of the iceberg was half as large as in January. According to satellite data, the colossus soon began to move.
“He will see more ice shelves break off”
Expert Matt King, who heads the Antarctic research facility in Australia, does not believe that the detachment of the ice shelf will lead to a large rise in sea levels because the glacier behind it is small. But: “We will see more ice ledges break off as global warming occurs,” he told the King Guardian. “We will see huge icebergs, much larger than this, breaking away, now holding back large masses of ice – enough to raise global sea levels significantly.”
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East Antarctica is currently experiencing “extraordinary and unprecedented heat waves,” according to the World Weather Organization (WMO). On March 18, at the Concordia research station, minus 12.2 degrees was measured. This is 40 degrees warmer than the region’s average for this time of year and 20 degrees warmer than the previous record in March.
The entire region is actually considered to be the driest, windiest and coldest region in the world. The reason for the unprecedented temperatures is “atmospheric flow”, meteorologists said. Atmospheric flow is a band of moisture-saturated air several kilometers above the Earth’s surface that carries heat and moisture. Many experts emphasized that more research is now needed – also to elucidate a possible link with ice breaking.