Huge Icebergs Imaged from Space

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of Iceberg B-09B and the newly created iceberg off the Mertz Glacier. Out to sea, delicate white swirls indicate a relatively thin layer of sea ice. Occasional clouds floating overhead cast shadows on the ice surfaces below. CREDIT: NASA/Earth Observatory

A newly created Antarctic iceberg and the giant berg that knocked it free are both visible in a new satellite image.

The two massive icebergs, each as big as a small state, drifted along the coast of East Antarctica when imaged on March 8.

In mid-February 2010, the Rhode Island-sized Iceberg B-09B collided with the protruding Mertz Glacier Tongue along the George V Coast. The Mertz Glacier was already in the process of calving an iceberg when the arrival of the B-09B accelerated the process, leaving two icebergs the size of small states off this part of Antarctica's coast.

Scientists say the collision is major event but a normal part of iceberg creation.

Between each iceberg and the coast float myriad smaller icebergs, many of them created in the collision.

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