NASA Unveils First Images of Larsen C’s Iceberg (PHOTOS)

The 2,240-square-mile long iceberg departed ways with its mother, the Larsen C ice shelf, on July 10-12.

— 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. 

Timelapse of Larsen C ice shelf break

© NASA Goddard/UMBC JCET, Christopher A. Shuman

​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.