Climate change is having catastrophic consequences especially in certain parts of planet Earth such as Antarctica, where the world’s largest iceberg has broken off this week. Baptized with the name of ‘A-76’, it has an area of 4,320 square kilometers and is larger than the island of Mallorca. Until 2017, the ‘A-68’ was the largest iceberg in the world with an area of 6,000 square kilometers, but it broke off. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission managed to capture some images of the iceberg, which were used by scientists to calculate their dimensions: 170 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide, according to the European Space Agency. After the detachment in Antarctica, the A-32A became the largest iceberg in the world, with 3,880 square kilometers of surface. It is also in the Weddell Sea, although experts say it is not in danger for now. By comparison, the A-74 iceberg, which broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in February 2020, was 1,270 kilometers long. squares. The British Antarctic Survey detected it and then the United States National Ice Center confirmed it thanks to images from the Sentinel-1 mission. It has two polar-orbiting satellites that capture C-band synthetic aperture radar images 24 hours a day, regardless of whether it is day or night. In this way, scientists can observe remote regions such as Antarctica in real time throughout the year. What will happen now? Experts explain that the ice shelf from which what was until now the largest iceberg in the world has broken off world was already floating on the water, the sea level will not be affected.However, according to the European Space Agency, what does indirectly affect the rise in sea level is the fracture of the ice shelf, and in the coming weeks different satellites will continue to track the path followed by the iceberg that has broken off from the ice shelf. It is expected to move closer to warmer water currents and to fragment into smaller pieces. This is what happened with the A-68 iceberg. It ended up fragmented into several pieces and, when it approached the island of South Georgia, it disappeared.
An iceberg bigger than Mallorca is detached from Antarctica
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