{"id":189818,"date":"2021-02-26T20:52:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T17:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/giant-iceberg-breaks-off-near-uk-antarctic-base\/"},"modified":"2021-02-26T20:52:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T17:52:09","slug":"giant-iceberg-breaks-off-near-uk-antarctic-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/giant-iceberg-breaks-off-near-uk-antarctic-base\/","title":{"rendered":"#Giant iceberg breaks off near UK Antarctic base"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Giant iceberg breaks off near UK Antarctic base<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n A vast iceberg almost the size of Greater London has broken away from the Antarctic ice shelf near a British research station, the British Antarctic Survey said Friday.<\/p>\n

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The research body said the iceberg measuring 1,270 square kilometres (490 square miles) had broken off from the 150-metre-thick Brunt Ice Shelf in a process called “calving”.<\/p>\n

This came almost a decade after scientists first saw massive cracks had formed in the shelf.<\/p>\n

A crack in the ice widened by several hundred metres on Friday morning before the iceberg broke off completely.<\/p>\n

Britain’s Halley VI Research Station monitors the state of the vast floating ice shelf daily. <\/p>\n

“Our teams at BAS have been prepared for the calving of an iceberg from Brunt Ice Shelf for years,” said BAS director Jane Francis.<\/p>\n

The mobile research base relocated inland for safety reasons in 2016-2017 as cracks in the ice threatened to cut it off.<\/p>\n

“That was a wise decision,” commented Simon Garrod, BAS director of operations.<\/p>\n

The glaciologists said the latest event is unlikely to affect the station’s current location.<\/p>\n

The base’s 12-person team left earlier this month, as they leave the base uninhabited in winter due to the unpredictable conditions.<\/p>\n

While they are away, data from GPS instruments at the site goes to a centre in Cambridge, eastern England, for analysis.<\/p>\n

Icebergs naturally break off from Antarctica into the ocean in a process accelerated by climate change.<\/p>\n

The BAS said in this case, there is “no evidence that climate change has played a significant role”.<\/p>\n

“Over coming weeks or months, the iceberg may move away; or it could run aground and remain close to Brunt Ice Shelf,” said Francis.<\/p>\n

The British Antarctic Survey is a world leader in environmental research in the region.<\/p>\n\n

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Is the Brunt Ice Shelf on the brink?\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Giant iceberg breaks off near UK Antarctic base (2021, February 26)
\n retrieved 26 February 2021
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2021-02-giant-iceberg-uk-antarctic-base.html<\/p>\n

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