Iceberg A-68M Press Release

Iceberg A-68M Calves from A-68G in the South Atlantic Ocean

By LT Falon M. Essary, USN
NIC.PAO@noaa.gov
U.S. National Ice Center
January 31, 2021

Suitland, MD — The U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC) has confirmed A-68G has broken in half prompting the naming of A-68M in the continued rapid break-up of the A-68A family of icebergs. The new iceberg A-68M is located at 56° 52' South, 35° 18' West and measures 26 nautical miles on its longest axis and 6 nautical miles on its widest axis.

A-68M was first spotted by Jan Lieser Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and confirmed by USNIC Ice Analyst Christopher Readinger using the Sentinel-1A image shown below.

Iceberg names are derived from the Antarctic quadrant in which they were originally sighted. The quadrants are divided counter-clockwise in the following manner:

A = 0-90W (Bellingshausen/Weddell Sea)
B = 90W-180 (Amundsen/Eastern Ross Sea)
C = 180-90E (Western Ross Sea/Wilkesland)
D = 90E-0 (Amery/Eastern Weddell Sea)

When first sighted, an iceberg’s point of origin is documented by the USNIC. The letter of the quadrant, along with a sequential number, is assigned to the iceberg. For example, C-19 is sequentially the 19th iceberg tracked by the USNIC in Antarctica between 180-90E (Quadrant C). Icebergs with letter suffixes have calved from already named icebergs, where the letters are added in sequential order. For example, C-19D, is the 4th iceberg to calve off the original C-19 iceberg.

The National Ice Center is a tri-agency operational center represented by the United States Navy (Department of Defense), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Department of Commerce), and the United States Coast Guard (Department of Homeland Security). The National Ice Center mission is to provide the highest quality strategic and tactical ice services tailored to meet the operational requirements of U.S. national interests and to provide specialized meteorological and oceanographic services to United States government agencies.

Satellite image of Icebergs A-68A, A-68G, A-68J, A-68K, A-68L, and A-68M — Figure 1: Sentinel-1A image of A-68A, A-68G, A-68J, A-68K, A-68L, and A-68M January 31, 2021 (Sentinel-1A Imagery courtesy of European Space Agency)

For more information, please contact:
National Ice Center
Command Duty Officer
Voice: (301) 943-6977
E-mail: nic.cdo@noaa.gov
Twitter: @usnatice
Facebook: @usnatice

The U.S. National Ice Center is a tri-agency center operated by the Navy, NOAA, and Coast Guard and provides global to tactical scale ice and snow products, ice forecasting, and related environmental intelligence services for the United States government.

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