Science
Only a few years ago, NASA spotted the world’s largest glacier: a new observation, revealed that it no longer exists. What happened here?
Giulia Sbaffi
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Passionate about beautiful stories and travel, I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. When I’m not around or at the PC, I hug my lovely cats.
What islargest iceberg in the world, Scientists discovered it only a few years ago, when a huge block broke off from Antarctica and started floating in the sea. Today that glacier doesn’t exist: NASA took some pictures of it where it was supposed to be, and they made some surprising discoveries.
The world’s largest glacier no longer exists
Let’s take a step back. In May 2021, scientists spotted a huge iceberg that had just broken off from the Antarctic Ice Shelf Ronnie Ice Shelf, It was a huge block of more than 4,300 km², slightly larger than the entire US state of Rhode Island: the experts, who discovered its detachment thanks to a satellite of the European Space Agency, renamed it A-76A Was. Efforts are being made to keep it under control through satellite pictures. NASA scientists photographed it In October 2022, it was discovered that it was approximately 135 km long and 26 km wide.
The iceberg, floating at incredible speed—for a piece of ice, of course—had reached a stretch of ocean drake’s channel, known for its powerful currents. Experts have nicknamed it the “graveyard of icebergs” because its fast waters often leave no way for the glaciers to move. And in fact the A-76A also failed to escape passage in this channel: NASA images taken on May 24, 2023 showed that The world’s largest iceberg no longer exists, Only six fragments of notable size remain, drifting away from each other near what is now South Georgia Island.
Fragments They are located about 2,400 km from the point where the block of ice broke away from Antarctica: “It’s impressive to think that it moved that far in about two years” – Christopher Schuma, glaciologist at the University of Maryland and Goddard NASA “It clearly tells us something about the strength of the powerful currents in this part of the Atlantic Ocean,” said the Space Flight Center. What will happen Fate of the A-76A (Or rather, the fragments that remain)? According to experts, the blocks of ice could cause problems for South Georgia Island, where they are headed.
danger of glacier fragments
Shortly before A-76A was built, another iceberg (the largest in the world at the time) passed through Drake Channel, bursting out in half and then disintegrate. It was on a collision course with South Georgia Island before powerful ocean currents tore it into harmless pieces. However, its melting released an estimated 1 trillion tons of fresh water into the ocean. It is likely that the A-76A, which never raised any concerns about potential collision with the grounddo the same thing.
A second injection could cause severe damage to the marine ecosystem around the island of South Georgia large amounts of fresh water within a few years. And that’s not all: in January 2023 another iceberg – this time the size of London – broke away from the Antarctic shelf called the Brunt Ice Shelf, and scientists say it could be headed straight for Drake Channel, where There would be a risk of taking it to the catapult. in pieces or in one piece, once again in the direction of the island, risking more and morehabitat of many marine species,
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