Large icebergs have been tracked heading away from Antartica and into the warmer waters near Australia. Ice shelves are being carved out.
CNN reported today about floating ice in the waters around Australia and New Zealand. For the past 10 years a large iceberg has been drifting around the Antarctica ice shelf it dropped from, until recently. The iceberg is estimated to be 54 square miles (1,700 square kilometers) in size. Currently it is around 1,000 miles away from West Australia. The ice is being called B17B.
With the water surrounding the coast of Australia being so warm, the iceberg will melt down eventually. However, the estimated time of a size reduction is unknown. Scientists have stated that this is one of the largest icebergs to make it as far towards Australia as this one has.
Now the question is, will this iceberg bring about the same tourism that we saw three years ago? In 2006 a group of icebergs made it to New Zealand and the country saw an increase in visitors trying to get a peak at, what we considered, a once in a lifetime event.