An Iceberg Is Born
Over the course of two years, NASA satellites and airborne instruments tracked the birth of a new iceberg from Pine Island Glacier, the longest and fastest-moving glacier in West Antarctica. Scientists first discovered a large crack while flying over the glacier in October 2011. By July 2013, satellite images indicated that the crack had cut completely across the ice shelf to the southwestern edge, forming a chunk of ice about 21 miles wide and 12 miles long. New images now show that the iceberg, named B-31, is slowly moving away from the coast. Watch the video to see the iceberg separate from Pine Island Glacier.
A large crack in an Antarctic glacier heralds the birth of an iceberg the size of Singapore.
This time-lapse video was assembled from images captured by NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites between Nov. 4 and Nov. 20, 2013.
The Landsat 7 satellite acquired this image of the crack on Oct. 26, 2012.
The Landsat 8 satellite acquired this image on Oct. 28, 2013, days before the iceberg separated from the glacier.
By Nov. 13, 2013, when Landsat 8 acquired this image, the iceberg had started to drift away from the coast.
The location of Pine Island Glacier is shown on this map of Antarctica.
For More Information
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Earth Observatory
Aqua and Terra images courtesy of NASA/GSFC/MODIS Rapid Response Team/Jeff Schmaltz
Landsat images courtesy of NASA/GSFC/Matt Radcliff and NASA Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen
Antarctica map courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon
-
Video editor
- Holli Riebeek (Sigma Space Corporation)
-
Writer
- Holli Riebeek (Sigma Space Corporation)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, December 19, 2013.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:51 PM EDT.