Melting Ice Mountains More Than 1,200 km Along East Greenland Coast

Illustration of an iceberg in Greenland. (Wikimedia Commons/Buiobuione)

JAKARTA - An iceberg has drifted more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) along the coast of East Greenland, Danish broadcaster DR reported Thursday, citing the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).

The iceberg is about 5.7 kilometers (3.5 miles) long and 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) wide, with a height between 10 and 25 meters (33 and 82 feet) above sea level.

According to DMI, tabular icebergs usually drift south along the coast of East Greenland during winter and spring, and reach southern Greenland in summer, where at that time their size usually ranges from 200 to 500 meters, Anadolu (17/7) reported.

Hans Henrik Light, an ice analyst at the DMI ice service, said icebergs measuring between three and six kilometers (1.9 to 3.7 miles) are only seen every two or three years.

Light said he had been monitoring the iceberg for several years.

Until this winter, the iceberg was stuck near the uninhabited Ile-de-France island in the northeast of Greenland.

He explained that the iceberg had drifted more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from the Nioghalvfjerds Glacier and had been protected by the surrounding sea ice.

The iceberg is now free of sea ice and is expected to break up into smaller icebergs as it moves south, Light added.

DMI stated that they monitor the iceberg because it can pose a danger to navigation in Greenland waters, and its location is listed in the ice map used by ships sailing in the area.

According to DMI, this type of iceberg has almost never been found along the east coast of Greenland before 2000 because it is enclosed by thick ice that is attached all year round.

The agency added that such mountains appear due to climate warming.