The size of London: Iceberg breaks free from Antarctica

An iceberg the size of Greater London has broken away from the Brunt Ice Shelf becoming the second major calving in the area in two years.

Last December, Chasm-1 was confirmed to have spread across the ice shelf marking an imminent calving. This Sunday the iceberg, Iceberg A-81, broke free.

The event has long been expected, cracks in the ice shelf have been recorded since 2012 at Chasm-1 which had previously remained dormant for around 35 years.

This calving follows the break away of the A74 iceberg in 2021 which is now situated in the Weddell Sea. It is expected that the new iceberg, which is larger than A74, will follow a similar path.

The Brunt Ice Shelf is continuously monitored by a network of GPS instruments and also houses the Halley VI Research Station.

At present the station is safe despite the calving having previously been moved upstream of Chasm-1 during the 2016-17 summer season.

Due to the unpredictable winter weather in Antarctica the station is only manned during summers with 21 staff currently deployed.

Work at the station focuses on space and atmospheric weather and has continuously measured ozone since 1956 which led to the discovery of the ozone hole.

Days after breaking free the iceberg was officially named A-81 by the US National Ice Center.