December 23, 2020 - Iceberg A68A begins to break up

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   Iceberg A68A
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   Iceberg A68A was closely approaching South Georgia Island when it
   pivoted, cracked, then left a large chunk of itself behind. On December
   22, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
   board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of A68A
   drifting away from the piece that had broken away.

   Thanks to Terra MODIS images acquired each day, we can see the break-up
   of A68A. On December 16, the northern tip of A68A had approached within
   35 miles (56 km) from South Georgia Island – close enough to
   potentially interact with the relatively shallow shelf that sits
   underwater off the long island. The image acquired on December 17
   confirmed that the tip remained in roughly the same location while the
   rest of Iceberg A68A drifted southeastward. The tip of the massive A68A
   is large enough to earn a name of its own – Iceberg A68D.

   The fact that A68D stayed nearly stationary in an area likely over the
   island’s shelf suggests that fracture occurred due to A68A striking the
   shelf. With the northern tip grounded and the bulk of the ‘berg pulled
   by a strong current, the separation would have been quickly completed.
   But if A68D was in fact grounded, it didn’t stay that way long. By
   December 18, both ‘bergs had moved towards the southeast. And since
   that time, the distance between the two has increased. On December 22,
   the distance between A86D the nearest point to South Georgia Island had
   increased to 52 miles (83.7 km) while the gap between the two icebergs
   measured about 28 miles (45 km).

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 12/22/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (37.1 KB),  500m (123 KB),  250m (369.9 KB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2020-12-23
 
