This is the iceberg of the size of Chicago that has just detached in Antarctica

During the last month, the potato -shaped iceberg has moved about 250 kilometers from its point of origin near the southern end of the ice barrier Jorge VI along the base of the Antarctic Peninsula.

The iceberg trip is visible in an animation disseminated by NASA Earth Observatory, Composed of satellite images acquired between January 15 and February 15, 2025. The images are of the modis instruments (moderate resolution impetradiometer) in the Terra and Aqua satellites of the NASA, as well as the VIIRS (visible infrared imaging radiometer Suite) in the Suomi NPP satellite.

At the end of 2024, a crack was observed in the remnant of the ice barrier Jorge VI, but the future iceberg was still surrounded by sea ice at Ronne’s entrance, the bay that borders the southern end of the ice platform . The ice platform Jorge VI is unusual because it has an ice front both north and south. By January 2025, most of the seasonal sea ice had melted and the ocean currents took the new iceberg.

“I am impressed how fast it has moved in the coastal current”He said in a statement Christopher Shuman, a retired glaciologist at Maryland University. “It makes me wonder what is happening in the water under the ice platform”.

Icebergs detachment is a normal phenomenon on ice platforms. However, Factors such as air and water heating, along with the decrease in protective sea ice, can accelerate detachment and cause collapse, as has happened with several ice platforms along the Antarctic Peninsula.

The observations made by the explorers in the early 1940s, and later through remote sensing, show that Jorge VI has been losing platform ice. For now, the setback has been gradual, helped by the stability provided by its unique location, between the Antarctic Peninsula and Alexander Island.