World’s Largest Iceberg Breaks off Antarctica

A chunk of ice the size of Rhode Island broke off of the coast of Antarctica and is now the largest iceberg in the world (watch above).

The 1,667-square-mile frozen chunk – dubbed A-76 – is afloat in the Weddle Sea after cleaving from the Ronne Ice Shelf. It was first spotted by the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel, a two-satellite constellation that orbits Earth’s poles.

Another iceberg afloat in the Weddell Sea, A-23A, was previously the world’s largest with a surface area of 1,498 square miles.

Satellites track the world’s largest icebergs to ensure they don’t wreak havoc. Last year, one giant berg came dangerously close to colliding with South Georgia Island, a breeding ground for seals and penguins, according to Scientific American.

Experts say the new iceberg is not the product of climate change, but instead represents a natural cycle. From CNN:

Once it melts, the new iceberg will not lead to a sea level rise, because it was part of a floating ice shelf — just like a melting ice cube doesn’t increase the level of the drink in your glass.

That makes icebergs like this different from glaciers or ice sheets, which are found on land, and which do raise global sea levels when they break off into the ocean and melt. If Antarctica’s entire ice sheet were to melt, it could raise sea levels by nearly 190 feet.

It’s still nearly three times smaller than the biggest iceberg in recorded history. That designation belongs to an iceberg named B-15 that calved off of Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf 21 years ago. The B-15 iceberg covered more than 4,200 square miles when it broke away, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.