Sunday, September 30, 2018

Giant iceberg breaks off Antarctica Larsen C forever

Antarctica is melting.
If you didn’t believe it last year, it’s there on your face now.
July 2017, a giant iceberg A68 split off from the Larsen C ice shelf. However, sea ice to the east and shallow waters to the north kept A68 hemmed in.
One year later, it is now free to float away and be carried further north into warmer waters.
In early September 2018, the iceberg finally broke free, largely due to out strong winds blowing from Larsen C.
Sentinel-1mission – a two-satellite constellation captures clockwise drift of ocean waters and sea ice flowing north past the Larsen shelf.
It shows how the iceberg A68 rotates to and fro and finally separates from Larsen C.
The calving of the iceberg reduces the size of the Larsen C Ice Shelf by around 12%.

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