The ice is as big as London in 'wobbly teeth' apart from Antarctica

Scientists say the recent loss of Antarctica has been unrelated to climate change, but the consequences of this process could accelerate the thaw.

The Australian Antarctic Authority, which is part of the Australian Ministry of Environment and Energy, said the ice sheet just separated from Antarctica is about 50 km long and nearly 30 km wide. The ice, dubbed D-28 , has a total area of ​​about 1,636 square kilometers, according to the Guardian.

Observers say D-28 has completely separated from the Amery ice shelf, east of the Antarctic continent, since Sept. 26. The size of the iceberg is equivalent to the London capital of England.

Ice shelf is a large piece of ice attached to the Antarctic continent but eaten into the sea. The thickness of the ice shelves usually ranges from 50-600m, according to the US National Snow and Ice Center.

The D-28 iceberg was discovered by the European Union's Copernicus satellite program (EU) off the Amery ice shelf on September 25.(Photo: Guardian).

This is the largest breakage phenomenon ever recorded in the Amery ice shelf area from 1963-1964. Scientists think the incident may not be related to climate change.

The phenomenon occurs in an area that is like the "wobbly tooth" of Antarctica. Observers have long noted uncertain connections on the Amery ice shelf. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Agency, the Antarctic and Oceanic Research Institute, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have been working together to monitor the situation for 20 years.

Helen Amanda Fricker, professor at the Scripps Institute, said she and her colleagues first discovered cracks in front of the ice shelf in the early 2000s. Scientists at the time predicted a breach of ice. Large scale will take place in the period 2010-2015.

"I was quite excited when I finally saw the incident over the years. We knew how it happened, but we all had to wait anxiously because we didn't know exactly where this phenomenon occurred." , she said.

Amery is the third largest ice shelf in Antarctica, located between two Australian research stations, Davies and Mawson.

Location of the Amery ice shelf on the east side of Antarctica.(Photo: Journal of Geophysical Research (GRJ).

Researchers have been studying the Antarctic ice shelves since the 1960s. Many devices have been developed to study the effects of melting ice and seawater.

"The ice breakup is part of the normal shelf life of an ice shelf. We have seen many large scale splits occur every 60-70 years," Fricker said.

Ben Galton-Fenzi, a glacial researcher at the Australian Antarctic Agency, said the splits at Amery were discovered via satellite images.

"The incident will not directly affect the sea level because the ice shelf is actually floating on the water, like a stone in your glass of water," Galton-Fenzi said.

"What is to be investigated is how quickly the loss of such an area will affect the process of seawater thawing the remaining ice shelf and how much of the ice flows from the continent , " he said. strong.

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