New City-sized Iceberg Created Near Antarctica

The new iceberg D-16. Credit: DMSP

A city-sized iceberg has broken off an island near Antarctica.

The iceberg is about 8 miles wide and 15 miles long. It broke free of the Fimbul Ice Shelf, a large glacial ice sheet along the northwestern section of Queen Maud Land, in the eastern Weddell Sea near Antarctica.

The discovery was announced Friday. The National Ice Center, using visible satellite imagery from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, spotted the iceberg now named named D-16.

Iceberg names are derived from the Antarctic quadrant where they are first sighted.

Last year, a larger wandering iceberg named B-15A rammed into the continent and single-handedly ripped two other new city-sized icebergs free.

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