The European Space Agency (ESA) said today that an iceberg more than 70 times the size of Manhattan in the New York City borough of the United States has broken away from the Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica and fallen into the Weddell Sea, making it the largest iceberg in the world.
Reuters and CNN reported that the iceberg, shaped like a giant ironing board and named A-76 by scientists, is about 175 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide, covering an area of 4,320 square kilometers, slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca.
Huge chunks of ice regularly fall off the ice shelf, so iceberg disintegration is part of a natural cycle. Scientists do not believe that climate change has caused this particular phenomenon, but rather that it is part of a natural cycle.
Once melted, a new iceberg does not cause sea level rise because it is part of a floating ice shelf, just as melting ice in a glass does not raise the level of the drink in the glass.
However, if a glacier or ice sheet on land were to break off into the sea and melt, it would raise the global sea level. If the entire ice sheet in Antarctica melts, it will cause the sea level to rise by nearly 58 meters.
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