The world’s largest iceberg has lifted off from Antarctica

Iceberg the size of the Spanish island of Mallorca has crashed off the coast of Antarctica. Measurements taken from satellites and planes confirm that it is now the largest in the world.

Iceberg A-76 broke off on the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica and is now floating in the Weddell Sea, according to the European Space Agency. It is approximately 170 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide. It is larger than Long Island in New York and half the size of Puerto Rico.

The Antarctic ice sheet is warming faster than the rest of the planet, causing snow and ice covers to melt, as well as the retreat of glaciers, especially around the Weddell Sea. As glaciers retreat, chunks of ice break off and drift until they break or crash onto the shore.

Last year, The currents carried the iceberg A-68A, the largest in the world at the time, from Antarctica to the coast of the South Georgia Islands.. Scientists feared the iceberg would collide with an island that is fertile ground for sea lions and penguins, but it ended up splitting and disintegrating into pieces.

Average sea level has risen by about 23 centimeters since 1880, and about a quarter of that increase comes from the melting ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica, as well as terrestrial glaciers elsewhere, according to a study published in Nature earlier this month.

The study by 84 scientists from 15 countries concluded that the most ambitious national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change recently established are not enough to prevent the rise in the level of the earth. wed. In fact, melting glaciers and ice caps will raise sea level twice as fast What if countries kept their previous promises under the Paris Agreement?