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How did fast ice breakup in northeastern Greenland release large numbers of icebergs in 2003?
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iceberg
Tourist boat in front of a massive iceberg near the coast of Greenland.
In 2003, the multiyear cover of fast ice along the northeastern coast of Greenland broke out. This event removed the barrier that had previously constrained the ice, allowing a large number of tabular icebergs to emerge from the fast-flowing Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Glacier and Zachariae Isstrøm.1
Following this breakout, some of these icebergs traveled as far as the Labrador Sea within two to three years, while others became grounded in the shallow waters of the Greenland shelf.1