This is an photograph from the Oct. 31, 2017 Operation IceBridge flight over the Larsen C.

For the last nine years, NASA’s Operation IceBridge has been flying over Antarctica to measure changes in land and sea ice at the bottom of the world. Soon after beginning this year’s campaign, the mission flew over one of the most obvious signs of change in 2017: a giant iceberg the size of Delaware that recently calved off of the Larsen C ice shelf. This iceberg is more than 600 feet thick and has a total volume twice the size of Lake Erie. Even so, it won’t contribute any more to sea level rise, as it’s been floating as part of an ice shelf for a long time. Scientists are still researching whether the removal off all that ice will have any effect on the flow rates of glaciers upstream from the Larsen C.

Caption: Mountains bordering Crane Glacier. Credit NASA/Nathan Kurtz

More about NASA’s Operation IceBridge: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/icebridge/index.html

NASA image use policy.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

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