A giant iceberg, 115sq km in size, moving slowly from the
Antarctic has been spotted on satellite images and is about
5000km from Dunedin.
The iceberg, known as B17B, was travelling roughly east,
following the main ocean currents, about 1kmh, National
Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa)
oceanographer Dr Mike Williams said.
"It'll take months before it might get to New Zealand."
Last month, people were excited when icebergs came as close
as 280km to Dunedin, but the latest iceberg was much larger,
he said.
Its size made it much easier to track by satellite.
"In comparison, it's huge."
Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Dr Neal Young
spotted the large iceberg using satellite images taken by
Nasa and the European Space Agency.
When first seen, it was 140sq km, but it was gradually
breaking up as it drifted from the Antarctic, he said.
The iceberg was roughly 1700km south-southwest of Perth,
Australia, and was significant in that it had drifted so far
north while still largely intact, Dr Young said on the
division's website.
"It's one of the biggest sighted at those latitudes."
As the water warmed up, the iceberg was thinning and slowly
breaking up. The resulting icebergs measured up to several
kilometres in length and were spread over more than 1000km of
ocean, Dr Young said.
B17B was named after the area from which it calved off, the
eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf, nearly 10 years ago.
Several other massive icebergs also calved off in the area.
Most of these drifted out of the Ross Sea and began to head
westwards round the Antarctic coastline, but many became
trapped in "fast ice" for several years in an area off the
Mertz Glacier.
The iceberg was expected to continue tracking in a more
easterly direction, he said.
As to the fate of last month's icebergs, he expected most
would have broken up and melted by now.
Many had got down to a size that was difficult for him to
detect with the systems he was using, he said.
rebecca.fox@odt.co.nz
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