Crack in Brant Glacier: How Icebergs Are Born

The birth of a new iceberg is always an exciting sight, and the formation of a large iceberg is an outstanding event that attracts the attention of scientists and the public. Judging by the latest news coming from the open spaces of Antarctica, a new iceberg may soon form on the planet, which will break away from the Brant Glacier, in the eastern part of Antarctica. The huge crack that will separate the iceberg from the main part of the glacier is rapidly moving towards the other, which was recorded in space images published by NASA.

The area of the future iceberg will be about 1,700 square meters. km Of course, this is not the most outstanding indicator among the known icebergs, but it will be the largest ice block in terms of area that has ever been separated from the Brant Glacier.

It is noteworthy that not far from the place where the fault should occur in the future, there is a British polar station called Hally-6. One of its predecessors, Hally-4, was once located just on the territory of the future iceberg. But experts fear that the breakaway iceberg will serve as a destabilizing factor for the rest of the Brant Glacier, so the station will have to be moved deeper into the mainland. Fortunately, it will not be so difficult to do, because especially for such purposes, the station was made modular, and it consists of separate blocks.

This is not the first year that British polar explorers have been observing an insidious crack. It was first recorded more than 30 years ago, and all these years it has remained relatively stable. But a few years ago, the crack began to move further at an alarming rate - up to 4 km / year. And not so long ago, another crack appeared on the opposite side, which, according to experts, will accelerate the process of occurrence of an iceberg.