Giant iceberg shattered

Due to the warm waters, giant icebergs towards Australia have split into hundreds of smaller platforms.

B17B, the ice block name, was discovered last week after an Australian scientist analyzed satellite images. Then it is about 1,700 km from the south-west coast of Australia. Soon the Australian Meteorological Agency issued a dangerous warning to ships.

Satellite images show that many giant ice blocks separated from Ross ice shelf in Antarctica in 2000. B17B is the fourth block of ice from the right.Photo: AP.

According to the AP, since then the area of ​​ice has dropped from 140 square kilometers to 115 square kilometers. Neal Young, who discovered the ice block, said its current length is about 18 km, and its width is approximately 8 km. B17B is breaking into several hundred smaller blocks, many of which reach several kilometers in length. They are scattered over an area about 1,000 km wide on the ocean.

'I believe it will completely dissolve, but I can't predict the exact time,' Young said.

B17B is one of many giant ice cubes separated from Antarctica in 2000 when two large ice shelves here cracked. The separation of ice blocks is a completely natural phenomenon in the development of ice shelves. According to AP, experts say that B17B will continue to move east.