An iceberg roughly the size of Delaware and weighing over 1.2 trillion tons has broken off the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica. Scientists confirmed the process was complete Wednesday morning after examining new satellite data, and say it occurred some time between Monday, July 10th and this Wednesday morning, July 12th. The iceberg will likely be called A68.
No seal level rise is expected, as both the Larsen C ice shelf and the iceberg were already floating before the calving occurred. Scientists are monitoring this process of new iceberg formation, and some debate that the process could speed up with warmer sea temperatures and air temperatures in the future from climate change.
From here, the iceberg could remain in tact, but more likely it will end up breaking up into smaller pieces over time and gradually drift northward.
This is the third largest iceberg on record. The largest ever was an iceberg calved off the Ross ice shelf in Antarctica in March of 2000.
