Rogue Iceberg May Alter Global Circulation

Luxembourg-sized chunk from area where dense water forms

By Will McCahill

Posted Feb 26, 2010 7:37 PM CST

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Rogue Iceberg May Alter Global Circulation — A 60-mile long iceberg known as B9B, right, crashes into the Mertz Glacier Tongue, left, in the Australian Antarctic Territory, creating a new 48-mile-long iceberg. (Commonwealth of Australia)

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg is floating free in the waters north of Antarctica, jarred loose by the impact of another iceberg—and it’s so big it could change the water movements at the root of global weather patterns. The area around the Mertz Glacier generates much dense, salty water key to ocean circulation, scientists tell Reuters—and with more open water now there, the rate of formation for that Antarctic water could slow.

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