WATCH: An Iceberg Bigger Than New York Has Broken Off Antarctica Near a UK Base
An iceberg bigger than New York City has broken off near a UK base in Antarctica, the Brunt Ice Shelf, as an airplane flies over the North Rift crack.
The 1270 square kilometres chunk of ice is bigger than New York and broke free in a process of calving, according to a statement from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). This has been expected for years due to the forming of vast cracks in the 150-meter-thick floating ice shelf.
The North Rift started moving toward another large crack in November, and great a kilometre a day in January. The crack widened to several hundred metres on Friday, breaking off.