Colossal iceberg is about to break free from Antarctica

A satellite managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center recorded disturbing images that put scientists around the world on alert. A generous portion of the Brunt ice shelf, the Antarctic region bordering its eastern coast, is about to break free of the icy continent and be thrown into the sea. When this happens, we will have the birth of an iceberg no less than 1, 700 km² - an area larger than the city of São Paulo.

Two large cracks appeared on the site. The first of them, called Halloween Crack, was first detected in 2016, but continues to expand eastward. The second, however, was the one that most impressed the researchers, as it came suddenly and runs from south to north, cutting the platform through the mounds known as McDonald Ice Rises. The calculated speed is 4 km per year.

It is important to note that since 1986 NASA has been monitoring the region via satellite when using Landsat 5; But the agency has never seen such a swift expansion of a crack. A much more modern and accurate Landsat 8 is currently used, but because of the unpredictability of cracks, workers working in the region's scientific platforms (such as the British Antarctic Survey Halley Station) have been advised to leave their posts.

While it is difficult to predict what will happen when this colossal chunk of ice comes off the continent, one thing is certain: the phenomenon only underscores global concerns about climate change, which cause glacier melt to accelerate and drastically increase in level. from the sea. This is a short-term threat to coastal cities and it is estimated that by 2070 the Antarctic melt will lead to a 25 cm rise in world ocean levels.