Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland is known to generate large icebergs—most notably in 2010 and 2012. Another large iceberg may be forming now.
A new rift was spotted on the glacier in 2017. Since then, imagery from both Landsat and Europe's Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites show the rift lengthening and meeting up with an older crack.
The potential iceberg could exceed 150 km2 in area. That’s bigger than the 2012 break, but smaller than the 2010 break. (This is a rough estimate—it could be larger or smaller than that.)
Landsat and Sentinel help glaciologists keep a close eye on this remote but significant glacier.
Go to the USGS Earthshots page for more imagery of Petermann Glacier and the iceberg calvings from 2010 and 2012.