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Our science and operational teams continue to monitor the ice shelf in real-time to ensure it is safe, and to maintain the delivery of the science we undertake at Halley.' Meanwhile the combination of summer images from Sentinel-2 and availability of year-round and winter monitoring by Sentinel-1 radar placed the pattern of strain and propagation of an ice shelf fracture under the worldwide public microscope.'ĭominic Hodgson, BAS glaciologist, added, 'This calving event has been expected and is part of the natural behavior of the Brunt Ice Shelf. 'Thanks to Copernicus, coupled with in-situ and airborne measurements made by the British Antarctic Survey, the safety of the Halley Base has been preserved. The northward propagation of Chasm 1 and timely decision for BAS to move the Halley Base to safer ground have been accompanied by what has been perhaps the most detailed and longest duration scrutiny of events leading to natural calving from an Antarctic ice shelf.' The station is currently around 20 km from the line of rupture and there are currently 21 staff working on the station to maintain power supplies and facilities that keep the scientific experiences operating throughout winter.ĮSA's Mark Drinkwater said, 'After several years of iceberg calving watch, the long-awaited separation of the Brunt iceberg A-81 has finally taken place. The research station was relocated in 2017 to a more secure location after the ice shelf was deemed unsafe. BAS's Halley VI Research Station, where glaciologists have been monitoring the behavior of the ice shelf, has remained unaffected by the calving event. The split was first reported by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) as having occurred on 22 January between 19:00 and 20:00 UTC during a spring tide. Icebergs are traditionally identified by a capital letter indicating the Antarctic quadrant in which they were originally sighted, followed by a sequential number, then, if the iceberg breaks into smaller pieces, a sequential letter suffix. The new iceberg is anticipated to be named A-81 with the smaller piece to the north likely identified as either A-81A or A-82. It was only a matter of time that Chasm 1, which had been dormant for decades, would meet with the Halloween Crack, first spotted on Halloween 2016.Ĭredit: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021–23), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO Glaciologists have monitored the many cracks and chasms that have formed in the thick Brunt Ice Shelf, which borders the Coats Land coast in the Weddell Sea sector of Antarctica, for years. The timing of the calving event, although unexpected, had long been anticipated.

After several years of desperately clinging on, image data from the Copernicus Sentinel missions visually confirm the calving event.

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This crack was first revealed to be extending in early 2012 after having been dormant for some decades.