Pine Island in Antarctica

Pine Island Releases New Iceberg after Austral Winter 2015

AGU Blogosphere

24 September, 2015

NASA MODIS Image from Sept. 24, 2015 showing new iceberg at calving front of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica

In the MODIS images from the NASA Rapid Response image sets below you can see the lack of rifting in February, 2015 and April, 2015 that will lead at the calving front where the iceberg will break off that is evident on Sept. 24, 2015.  A new iceberg was reported having calved by the US National Ice Center in August, labelled B-35, it was reported to be 12.66 miles (20.4 km) long by 8 miles (12.8 km) wide. The iceberg indicated in the Sept. 24 image is not B-35.  It is much smaller than B-31 that broke off in 2013, but is approximately 14 km long and 8 km wide.  There are two other icebergs indicated that also broke off over the winter from Pine Island Glacier, into the polyna.

As Operation IceBridge begins its 2015 southern campaign I am sure we will learn much more about this iceberg. Details on the 2013 Calving illustrate a slower process from rift formation to calving. Pine Island Glacieris remains a key glacier that is undergoing rapid change.