Iceberg About the Size of Delaware Breaks off Antarctica

One of the largest icebergs ever recorded has broken off from an ice shelf in western Antarctica, researchers said last Wednesday. The iceberg — about the size of Delaware and weighing an estimated 1.12 trillion tons — finally ripped free sometime between Monday and Wednesday, scientists at the University of Swansea in Britain. Researchers said they were not immediately aware the calving is linked to human-induced climate change. Since the ice shelf was already in the ocean and held a relatively small amount of land ice, the potential melting of the freed iceberg is not expected to have an immediate effect on the sea level.

Continue reading...