Iceberg A-76, The Biggest Yet

After a four years, iceberg A68 is gone.

But a new giant berg, even bigger has spawned.  All hail A-76, the largest ice berg ever recorded [2].

The A-76 iceberg is around 4,320 square kilometres big, that’s bigger than the island of Majorca. (Image Credit: ESA/Earth Observation) (From [2])

As noted before, the calving of bergs from ice sheets is not necessarily related to climate change, and will not increase sea levels (the ice is already floating). 

However, should these ice sheets crumble rapidly due to warming oceans and winds, it would presumably release inland ice to flow to the sea.  That would both speed up melting and increase sea level.

As we saw with A-68, it’s hard to predict when and were A-76 will move next.  So we’ll stay tuned.

---

1. Claire Fahy, Iceberg Splits From Antarctica, Becoming World’s Largest, in New York Times. 2021: New York. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/world/iceberg-antarctica-ronne-a76.html
2. BBC News, A-76: The world’s largest iceberg has broken off in Antarctica, in BBC News, May 22, 2021. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/57203890