In 2021, the A-74 iceberg broke away from the ice sheet. In 2023 – A-81 with larger dimensions than the current one. Each of these events was recorded by two Earth observation satellites, ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 and NASA’s Landsat 8, which provided radar and thermal imaging data respectively.

The glacier is breaking up

Regular satellite monitoring of ice shelves allows scientists to monitor the effects of climate change in remote regions such as Antarctica. In particular, scientists can track how ice shelves maintain their structural integrity in response to changing ice dynamics and rising atmospheric and ocean temperatures.

• The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission relies on radar imaging to provide images year-round, day or night. This is especially important in winter, when there is almost no sunlight for six months (the so-called “Antarctic night”).
• Meanwhile, missions like Landsat 8 rely on thermal imaging to help scientists determine the thickness of the ice sheet.

New the iceberg received its official name A-83 From the US National Ice Center, which names the iceberg according to the Antarctic quadrant where it was first seen. Because the Brant Glacier is located in the eastern part of the Weddell Sea, its icebergs are numbered consecutively as “A”.

This chip (like the previous ones) resulted from the weakening of ice and cracks.

This image shows the glacier (right), iceberg A-83 and the contours of icebergs that broke off in 2021 and 2023 / Photo ESA/Copernicus Sentinel

A thermal image where thinner ice (dark areas) appears warmer because it is closer in temperature to open water, while thicker continental ice appears white. The water in this picture is orange / Photo: ESA/USGS

The temperature difference between the ocean and the ice sheet also helps scientists determine where the melting line is.

The loss of Antarctic ice is one of the most striking signs of rising global temperatures and an alarming warning. This process not only contributes to sea level rise, coastal water flooding, and extreme weather, but also causes additional solar radiation to be absorbed by the Earth’s oceans, causing further temperature increases.