The largest glacier in the world is detached

Those huge ice formations that were often seen in Antarctica in recent months have made headlines; now it is the turn of the largest glacier in the world, the loose tooth.

It has been one of the glaciers that have been studied for many years; specifically since 1960 and it was called D-28. It is the largest glacier in the world, with approximately 1,636 km2, more or less 5 times what corresponds to the size of the island of Malta.

It was a glacier that had an average weight of 315,000 million tons. Its large size has been compared to the proportion of urban space in Sydney or the Scottish Isle of Skye.

What happened?

This could be seen coming, it was already planned that at any moment this giant, the largest glacier in the world, could unexpectedly separate.

It was located on the Amery platform, one of the largest in Antarctica, from there this immense iceberg has broken off.

Prediction or chance

It has been cracking down the front of the ice shelf since the early 2000s; and since then many scientists had predicted that possibly between 2010 and 2015 the majestic glacier would be witnessed.

Previous detachments

55 years ago another separation of another ice block occurred at the same site.

So far the scientific community thinks that this is not related to global warming.

It is considered to be the normal process of the huge ice shelf, since every 60 or 70 years these types of events are seen in this area.

Consequences of climate change

Scientists report that the enormous dimensions of the world's largest glacier will not have any kind of impact on sea level, because it had been floating for a long time.

But this loss of ice could have its consequences in the melting of the ocean below what remains of the ice shelf.