Impending End of the Largest Iceberg Ever Recorded

Scientists are observing as remnants of B-15 are crumbling.

Antarctic ice
An eerie sound emanating from the ice in Antarctica was recorded during a 2014 expedition. (Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
LightRocket via Getty Images

The largest iceberg ever recorded is nearing oblivion, according to Atlas Obscura.

The iceberg B-15 broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf back in March of 2000, and ever since that behemoth of ice has been breaking down into smaller and smaller chunks. In 2014, the biggest section of the original iceberg was B-15T — which survived until it ran aground one too many times that September.

The largest remnant of the original iceberg today is B-15Z, which the has a large crack discovered by the International Space Station in a May 2018 photograph. The B-15Z is currently drifting north towards warmer waters, which is expected to prove the end for the ten-by-five nautical mile iceberg. After B-15Z inevitably breaks apart, only three pieces from the original B-15 iceberg will still meet the National Ice Center’s size requirements for tracking.

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