Ahoy there! Iceberg that's twice as big as a battleship

Published on Thursday 12 November 2009 21:21

A LARGE iceberg has been spotted off an island about halfway between Antarctica and Australia, a rare sight in waters so far north, Australian scientists said yesterday.

• The 1,640ft long, 160ft high iceberg floating in the seas south-east of Tasmania is thought to have broken off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf

Australian researchers working on Macquarie Island, 930 miles south-east of Tasmania, first saw the iceberg last Thursday about five miles off the coast of the island.

The iceberg is about 160ft high above the surface of the ocean and 1,640ft long – almost twice as big as the next generation of Royal Navy aircraft carriers.

The iceberg is probably part of one of several larger icebergs that broke off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf between 2000 and 2002, glaciologist Neal Young said.

Several icebergs have been drifting slowly northward with the ocean current toward the island over the past year, but it is uncommon for them to move so far into warmer northern waters, he said. The scientists believe the iceberg will break up and melt rapidly as it continues its journey north. Before it melts, however, it could present a danger to ships navigating the region, Mr Young said.

In 2000, several massive icebergs broke off from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf and the Ronne Ice Shelf. The first iceberg was about 190 miles long and 23 miles wide. Those icebergs are now drifting away from Antarctica.

Icebergs are formed as the ice shelf develops. Snow falls on the ice sheet and forms more ice, which flows to the edges, on to floating ice shelves. Eventually, pieces around the edge break off.

Meanwhile, a new report yesterday suggested the rate at which the Greenland ice sheet is shrinking is speeding up. The study, in Science, found the melting ice sheet was causing sea levels to rise by 0.46mm per year on average from 2000 to 2008, but 0.75mm per year from 2006 to 2008.