The Brunt Ice Shelf is about to give birth to a massive iceberg baby that’s twice the size of New York City, Science Alert reports.
Antarctica has been in the news a lot lately, particularly after a massive hole being discovered. Now, as a new iceberg breaks off from the Shelf, researchers are left to wonder what will happen to Halley Research Station.
The station, first built in 1956 by the British, was at the epicenter of the discovery of the ozone hole in the atmosphere thirty years late. It has moved several times in the past due to concerns over cracking and chasms in the ice.
Cracking across Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf is set to release an iceberg w/ an area about 2x the size of NYC. The splitting could result in an uncertain future for the shelf’s scientific research & human presence. See what @NASAEarth satellites captured: https://t.co/Atppp05I5j pic.twitter.com/WrI1p3bqVC
— NASA (@NASA) February 24, 2019
In a tweet NASA said the break off “could result in an uncertain future for the shelf’s scientific research and human presence.”
“We don’t have a clear picture of what drives the shelf’s periods of advance and retreat through calving,” NASA/UMBC glaciologistChris Shuman said. “The likely future loss of the ice on the other side of the Halloween Crack suggests that more instability is possible, with associated risk to Halley VIa.”
The iceberg will be about 1700 square kilometers, which actually isn’t that big by Antarctic standards, but still a major concern for scientists.
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