Giant Iceberg - The B17B (and its siblings) Australian Antarctic Division

A giant iceberg 140 square kilometres – 19km long by 8km wide – in size is drifting slowly north from Antarctica towards Western Australia. The iceberg, known as B17B, was spotted by Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young using satellite images taken by NASA and the European Space Agency.

Giant Iceberg - The B17B: Satellite image of iceberg south west from West Australian coast.  NASA
Dr Young said the iceberg is about 1700 kilometres south-south-west of the West Australian coast and moving north with the ocean current and prevailing wind. "B17B is a very significant one in that it has drifted so far north while still largely intact. It's one of the biggest sighted at those latitudes, now 48.8º S and 107.5º E" Dr Young said. "As the water warms up the iceberg is slowly breaking up, resulting in hundreds more smaller icebergs in the area," he said. B17B calved from the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelf nearly ten years ago.

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