Last month NASA released new images of Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf that exposed cracks poised to trigger a break-off of a massive iceberg with an estimated area of 1,700 sq. km, which is proportionate to two New York Cities.
The UK has shut down its Antarctic Survey’s Halley Station following NASA’s fearsome reports, suggesting that an ice shelf 30 times the size of Manhattan is likely to break away from the mainland, prompting safety concerns for people working at that base.
Even though the growing rift is said to be closer to the sea than the Halley base, researchers decided to leave it since they cannot be certain that it would be unaffected by the potential break-off. Moreover, they didn’t want to leave the base occupied in the event the staff needed to be evacuated in tough winter conditions.
