The 4220 square kilometer iceberg has broken up from Ronne ice rack

One layer of Antarctic ice is called Ron Rack Ice and is located in Weddell sea. The European Space Agency (ESA) has reported that the giant iceberg has given birth from the west side of the ice rack. Iceberg has been dubbed A-76 and measuring 4320 square kilometers, making it the largest iceberg in the world.

Large Iceberg was found in pictures taken by Copernicus sentinel-1 mission. The iceberg is 170 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide. ESA shows that large iceberg has a greater surface area than the Spanish Island of Majorca. Previously, the biggest iceberg was A-23A, which was 3880 square kilometers and also at the Weddell Sea.

This special sea is home to another big iceberg called A-74 which turned off ice brunt rack in February this year and measuring 1270 square kilometers. The new iceberg was seen by the British Antarctic survey and was later confirmed by US National Ice Center using Copernicus Sentinel-1 image. Sentinel-1 mission has a pair of satellites orbiting poles that use the synthetic c-band radar radar imaging and can restore day or night images, allowing looks throughout the year from remote areas, such as Antarctica.

A series of images are put together to create an iceberg animation that breaks ice shelves. Right before it separates from the shelf, there are lines that are seen showing cracks where the iceberg finally separates. Esa so far does not make claims about what causes the massive iceberg to break away from the shelf.

Animated images can be seen here. One interesting thing about it is that it shows ice in the ocean around the edge of the ice rack in a vast area when the massive iceberg is broken. There is no indication that the iceberg will cause danger for shipping lines.