— NASA (@NASA) July 30, 2017
Snapped just days after the baby berg wandered off, the new images are also giving insight into the main A-68 iceberg’s new losses. The berg is shown to be losing several smaller pieces as it continues to be carried northward out of its area.
Scientists are now questioning the future of Larsen C, as the years-long calving process has caused its area to shrink by 10 percent.
"The interesting thing is what happens next, how the remaining ice shelf responds," Kelly Brunt, a glaciologist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told NASA’s Earth Science news team. "Will the ice shelf weaken? Or possibly collapse, like its neighbors Larsen A and B? Will the glaciers behind the ice shelf accelerate and have a direct contribution to sea level rise? Or is this just a normal calving event?"
The images were shot with NASA’s Infrared Sensor on Landsat 8 satellite from July 14-21 as the region is now shrouded in darkness during the Southern Hemisphere winter.