A massive iceberg breaks off from the ice plateau around the south pole and now drives north. The iceberg is 4 times the size of London.
According to scientists, it is one of the largest icebergs that have been observed over the past decades: 6000 square kilometers. The mountain is 175 kilometers long and in some places up to 50 kilometers wide. It may take two to three years until the ice is melted.
Because the iceberg already drifted before it broke down from the so-called Larsen C plateau on Antarctica, the sea level will not rise.
The icebergs Larsen A and B, which were northerner on the Antarctic Peninsula, broke down in 1995 and 2002. This, however, brought about a rise in sea levels, says David Vaughan, glaciologist and scientific director of the British Antarctic Survey.
In the following months and years, the Larsen C-ice plateau can gradually grow again or even further valve down. Scientists differ in this regard.
The ice is at most a risk for shipping. Antarctica is off major trade routes but is a cruise destination from South America. At the end of 2013, the Russian research ship Akademik Sjokalskij stuck in the ice. It had to be shocked by icebreakers.
