The new iceberg about to break off in Antarctica is the size of the island of Malta. A crack 30 kilometres long has been identified by satellites.
Scientists discovered it on 3 October through the analysis of satellite imagery. A new, large iceberg is forming on the Pine Island Glacier, in West Antarctica. The crack that has formed is 30 kilometres long: only ten kilometres now remain holding the block of ice still attached to the ice sheet.
According to experts, it is very likely that the final strip will give way shortly, freeing an iceberg of over 300 square kilometres to drift through the ocean. Equal to the surface area of the island of Malta. The event, according to Nasa researchers, is expected to occur within the coming weeks.
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"The crack formed at the centre of the glacier, at the point where the ice shelf is in contact with warmer ocean waters, which act from below causing melting," explained Stef Lhermitte, a lecturer in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Delft, in the Netherlands.
Speaking to the American science website Live Science, the expert explained that calvings such as these have been commonplace since 2001. A year ago, the Larsen C ice shelf (whose total surface area is 50,000 square kilometres) had been the scene of the calving of an iceberg the size of the Lazio region. It measured 5,800 square kilometres and began to drift, starting to melt in the ocean.
The recent observation of the new block of ice now on the verge of breaking off has led scientists to fear that it may be a symptom of an escalation similar to the one witnessed in 2002. At that time, another ice shelf, known as Larsen B, had begun to disintegrate. It ended up disappearing within three months, at a speed eight times faster than that which had previously been recorded, on average, in similar cases.
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According to experts, the prime suspects behind this acceleration are climate change. On the other side of the world, meanwhile, the situation is no less striking. According to the latest Ipcc Sr15 report, in the event of a rise in the global average temperature of 2 degrees Celsius, we may in future expect summers during which the ice of the Arctic Ocean could melt completely.
