Iceberg Nursery

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Almost an iceberg "nursery," icebergs continue to break away from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. This image from the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra spacecraft, shows the level of activity along the shelf near Ross Island on September 21, 2000. The B-15 fragments are remnants of the huge iceberg (nearly 4,250 sqare miles) which broke away from the Antarctic shelf in late March 2000.

Slightly visible is the line where iceberg B-20 broke away from the shelf in the last week of September. Cracks in the Antarctic ice shelf are closely observed by satellite and are of interest to scientists studying the potential effects of global warming. This true-color image was produced using MODIS bands 1, 3, and 4.

Image by Brian Montgomery, NASA GSFC; data courtesy MODIS Science Team

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