Royal Navy sailors on a mission to Antarctica came across an iceberg bigger than Plymouth, the city their ship sailed from.

HMS Protector found the 11-mile long and five-mile-wide iceberg during her final scientific mission to the Southern Hemisphere.

The huge iceberg broke away from an ice shelf in the Weddell Sea more than a decade ago.

The iceberg is believed to be one given an official designation by scientists ? A57A. See SWNS story SWPLiceberg - Royal Navy warship spots ''mahoosive'' iceberg the size - of BRISTOL. The Royal Navy?s Antarctic patrol ship encountered an iceberg the size of Bristol as she began her final scientific mission of the season. HMS Protector came across the enormous mass of ice and snow, 11 miles long and five wide, as she returned to the frozen continent for the last time this winter, or summer as it is in the southern hemisphere. The Plymouth-based ship is coming to the end of a deployment to update maps and charts of the seas around Antarctica, support scientists in remote research stations on the frozen continent, and help experts study the effects of global warming on one of the world?s largest glaciers.
The iceberg is bigger than a city (Picture: MoD/SWNS)

The iceberg is believed to be the one previously given official designation by scientists, A57A.

Captain Matty Syrett described its size as ‘astonishing’, adding: ‘Along its edge large chunks of ice had calved off, leaving the appearance of a cave system.’

It was clear to Protector’s crew that the huge mass of ice was slowly melting and disintegrating as it was surrounded by growlers, small chunks of ice and larger ‘bergy bits’.

With a total area of around 55 square miles the berg is larger than Plymouth (30 square miles) – and nearly as big as Bristol.

The iceberg is believed to be one given an official designation by scientists ? A57A. See SWNS story SWPLiceberg - Royal Navy warship spots ''mahoosive'' iceberg the size - of BRISTOL. The Royal Navy?s Antarctic patrol ship encountered an iceberg the size of Bristol as she began her final scientific mission of the season. HMS Protector came across the enormous mass of ice and snow, 11 miles long and five wide, as she returned to the frozen continent for the last time this winter, or summer as it is in the southern hemisphere. The Plymouth-based ship is coming to the end of a deployment to update maps and charts of the seas around Antarctica, support scientists in remote research stations on the frozen continent, and help experts study the effects of global warming on one of the world?s largest glaciers.
It was surrounded by growlers, small chunks of ice and larger ‘bergy bits’ (Picture: MoD/SWNS)
HMS Protector cwhich found the Ice Berg. See SWNS story SWPLiceberg - Royal Navy warship spots ''mahoosive'' iceberg the size - of BRISTOL. The Royal Navy?s Antarctic patrol ship encountered an iceberg the size of Bristol as she began her final scientific mission of the season. HMS Protector came across the enormous mass of ice and snow, 11 miles long and five wide, as she returned to the frozen continent for the last time this winter, or summer as it is in the southern hemisphere. The Plymouth-based ship is coming to the end of a deployment to update maps and charts of the seas around Antarctica, support scientists in remote research stations on the frozen continent, and help experts study the effects of global warming on one of the world?s largest glaciers.
HMS Protector which found the iceberg (Picture: MoD/SWNS)
The iceberg is believed to be one given an official designation by scientists ? A57A. See SWNS story SWPLiceberg - Royal Navy warship spots ''mahoosive'' iceberg the size - of BRISTOL. The Royal Navy?s Antarctic patrol ship encountered an iceberg the size of Bristol as she began her final scientific mission of the season. HMS Protector came across the enormous mass of ice and snow, 11 miles long and five wide, as she returned to the frozen continent for the last time this winter, or summer as it is in the southern hemisphere. The Plymouth-based ship is coming to the end of a deployment to update maps and charts of the seas around Antarctica, support scientists in remote research stations on the frozen continent, and help experts study the effects of global warming on one of the world?s largest glaciers.
It is believed to be iceberg A57A (Picture: MoD/SWNS)

The ship was heading for volcanic Deception Island during her survey of the South Shetland Islands.

It was sent there to update maps to help scientists in remote research stations on the continent studying the effects of global warming.

The berg is so big it clearly shows up on satellite imagery of the Bransfield Strait, which separates the South Shetland Island chain from the end of the Antarctic Peninsula.

It’s still dwarfed by ten other icebergs which have broken away from the Antarctica region over the past 30 years.

A huge iceberg five times the size of Manhattan island cracked away from the Pine Glacier last October.

The iceberg, named B-46, covered around 115 square miles when it broke away.

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