A massive piece of ice (size of the Pardubice region) has broken off from Antarctica, creating the largest glacier in the world, the European Space Agency (ESA) reported today.
The giant piece of ice is 170 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide. With an area of 4,320 square kilometers, it makes it the largest glacier globally and takes the lead from the glacier called A-23A, which has approximately 3,880 square kilometers.
The new giant peeled away from a shelf of ice named after Edith Ronne’s polar explorer. The names of glaciers are formed according to the area where they were first recorded. The number determines their order. If it breaks, more letters are added to the end of the name.
British scientists first observed the new ice formation, and American colleagues confirmed their discovery after examining images from the Sentinel-1 mission, which consists of two satellites orbiting the earth. The Sentinel allows year-round monitoring of remote areas such as Antarctica, regardless of weather or the amount of light.