The icebreaker “Almirante Irízar”, which left last Wednesday to undertake the second stage of the Antarctic Summer Campaign (CAV) 2022/2023 to supply the Belgrano II Joint Antarctic Base, “successfully” flanked a 1,560 square kilometer iceberg that broke away from an ice barrier, it was officially reported this Sunday.
As planned by the Joint Antarctic Command (Cocoantar), the Irízar set sail from the Joint Antarctic Base (BAC) Orcadas to go to Belgrano II Baseto start the journey to the south of the Weddell Sea, they indicated.
As they pointed out, reaching the Belgrano II base “is a challenge from a nautical point of view, since it is the southernmost Argentine Antarctic base and this implies complicated navigation due to the presence of the ice field that the Irízar will cross in the coming days. ”.
The A81 iceberg is the product of a rupture that occurred on January 23 in the Brunt Ice Shelfwhich in 2021 also suffered a first fracture of the large A74 iceberg.
In this case, one of its ends broke and an iceberg of about 1,560 square kilometers of surface.
In addition, there were other secondary breaks that formed icebergs several tens of kilometers long, which are also drifting in the southern Weddell Sea.
The on-board Naval Hydrography Service monitors the satellite images and once the fracture occurs, the frequency of its monitoring is intensified.
It is estimated that the iceberg, approximately 150 meters deep and an average height of 90 meters above the water, is moving west at a speed of approximately 4 kilometers per day.
In addition to monitoring the images from the Argentine Sacom satellites and information provided by the National Commission for Space Activities (Conae), observations were also made in the area of the iceberg through a flight with Sea King helicopters to verify how many secondary icebergs and ice debris had been released.
The Captain of the Ship, Carlos Reciohighlighted both the operational and scientific importance: “We use all the means available to the ship to obtain scientific knowledge and profit for the Naval Hydrography Service and for CONAE, which is giving us great support by sending us all the images that the Saocom satellite has of this giant iceberg. and that allows us to follow up to know where and how it is moving”.
Regarding the A81, he clarified that from the operational point of view it does not represent a danger because the ship has all the latest generation electronic systems that were updated for this Antarctic Campaign.
“The most important thing is that we have the appropriate technological means, personnel with an on-site, empirical and mathematical analysis capacity, which is internationally first-rate, and experienced people on board who can understand what the technicians are saying to transform it into a safe operation”, highlighted Recio.
