Manhattan-sized iceberg breaks from Greenland's Petermann Glacier, survives island collision
A roughly 76-square-kilometer ice island calved from Greenland's Petermann Glacier in August 2026, the largest Arctic glacier calving since 2020. It later collided with Joe Island near Nares Strait but stayed intact, and Canadian officials are now tracking it as a possible hazard to shipping routes.
A Manhattan-sized, up-to-150-meter-thick ice island broke away from Greenland's Petermann Glacier on August 4, 2026, the largest Arctic glacier calving since 2020 and the biggest from Petermann itself since 2012. Discovered via ESA's Sentinel-1 satellite by University of Ottawa researcher Adam Garbo and colleagues, the iceberg drifted toward Nares Strait and rammed into Joe Island, an obstacle that split a 2010 Petermann iceberg in two, but this one survived intact. Two more, larger sections of the glacier's ice tongue remain cracked and are expected to break off next. Canada's environmental agency is monitoring the iceberg as a potential hazard to shipping routes and infrastructure. Source: NASA Earth Observatory, ESA.