The largest iceberg may break away from the Antarctic Larsen Glacier. According to scientists who are observing the glacier, the iceberg will break away from the main massif of Larsen C "in the coming months."
The largest ever observed iceberg may form in the near future off the coast of Antarctica in the Weddell Sea. The giant crack, formed on the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica Larsen C (Larsen C), stretches for almost 150 kilometers, and in some places its width exceeds 2 kilometers.
As reported on Thursday, February 9, the newspaper The New York Times, since December 2016, it has lengthened 27 kilometers and split the ice massif right through to the bottom.
If the crack extends another 20 kilometers, then it will reach the opposite edge of the glacier and from the main massif, according to glaciologists, "the largest icebergs ever observed will separate."
According to glaciologist Adrian Luckman, who has been observing the glacier since 2014, the iceberg will break away from the main massif "in the coming months." According to him, "the crack is spreading from one zone of relatively soft ice to other similar zones, and that is why the process is proceeding so rapidly."
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The Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves split in 1995 and 2002, but they were significantly smaller than Larsen S.
“The collapse of these two glaciers did not lead to a noticeable rise in ocean levels,” The New York Times noted. If the Larsen C glacier breaks, it will lead to a slight rise in ocean levels, according to glaciologist Eric Ringo of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"Much more worrisome for scientists is how the destruction of these ice shelves will affect the ice sheets located in the interior of the mainland, since their melting could lead to a more noticeable rise in ocean levels," the newspaper explains.
According to her, scientists are considering what is happening with the Larsen C glacier "as a warning that much larger ice masses in West Antarctica may be under the threat of destruction."