The world's largest iceberg is broken by a storm

At the end of October 2005, Earth's largest once-known iceberg was broken off Cape Adare in Antarctica. According to a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, a strong storm that shook the Gulf of Alaska six days earlier, at a distance of 13,400 kilometers to the north, broke this giant ice sheet.

The research team led by MacAyeal (University of Chicago) and Emile Okal (Northwestern University) placed seismographs on the B15A iceberg and Ross ice island to study the sounds emitted from ice sheets. Low frequency drift, known as the 'iceberg's singing'.

Satellite image of the B15A iceberg broken ( Source: physorg )

On October 27, 2005, the B15A iceberg with an area of ​​2,500km2 was broken into pieces. This is also the largest ice block of the B-15 iceberg that separated from Ross ice island in March 2000.

The graphs of the seismographs revealed that the iceberg movements began to appear 12 hours before they broke. It ranges from 1.25cm from top to bottom and about 10cm from right to left. Researchers suspect that an ocean wave is the cause of this phenomenon.

When investigating the origin of the storm in the colony, Professor Okal and his colleagues were surprised because they discovered that in Alaska, a storm had revolted 10m high waves at the end of October. 2006. Two days later, waves of 4 to 5 m high were recorded by probes in Hawaii. Three days later, a Pitcain-based seismograph in the South Pacific also noted the trail of passing waves.

Finally, after a six-day transpacific voyage, the rippling wave broke the drifting ice B15A off Cape Adare after hitting the Drygalski ice.

Researchers are currently investigating the impact of the December 2004 tsunami off Sumatra on the B15A iceberg.