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What is it?
It is the world’s largest iceberg, 170 km long and 25 km wide which breaks off from Antarctica. It falls off from western Antarctica into the Weddell Sea. It falls off from the Ronne Ice shelf.
Cause: As per scientist, though Antarctica is more vulnerable to climate change, this breakdown appears to be part of the natural Polar cycle. The break off was confirmed using the images from Copernicus satellite fo European space agency.
What are Icebergs?
Icebergs are pieces of ice, larger than 5 meters (16 feet) in size, which fall off of a glacier or a shelf and float in an open ocean.
They are in all shapes and the most common being tubular and non tubular.
They come in various sizes, from ice-cube-sized chunks to ice islands the size of a small country. For example this present iceberg is Slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca.
Majority of icebergs are found in the North Atlantic and Antarctica.
source of image: the hindu
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Bergy Bits and Growlers:
The pieces of ice smaller than the icebergs are known as bergy bits and Growlers.
The size of growlers are very small to an extent of a size of truck or a piano.
Bergy bits are small to medium sized pieces of ice.
Formation:
They may originate from glaciers or shelf ice, and may also be the result of a large iceberg that has broken up.
They are more dangerous for ships because they are harder to spot.
source: kejian1.cmatc.cn
