The Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland is significantly different than the fast flowing large outlet glaciers, such as the Jakobshavn and Helheim Glacier we here so much about. Petermann Glacier is much thinner at the calving front and moves much slower. The volume flux from this glacier is much less than Jakobshavn which loses 40 km³ per year, versus 1 km³ at the calving front of Peteramann and 12 km³ at the grounding line. A detailed review of some of the differences is explored in an article I wrote for Realclimate in 2008. In 2008 Petermann Glacier lost a substantial area, 29 km² due to calving. Additional large calving events in 2010 and 2012 followed.

This summer the rifts that have been evident for some time cutting across the glacier led to a calving event on Aug. 4tyh reported by Univesity of Ottawa researcher Adam Garbo. Because of the flat nature of this feature it can be referred to as an ice island as well. Imagery from July 21 indicates no calving. By August 6th berg A, with an area of 75km² . The glacier thickness at the calving front is less than 150 m, which allows this berg to cross the sill that is 350-450 m deep (Tinto et al 2015), and move out of the fjord. The berg has moved 28 km from Aug. 4 to Aug. 13, a velocity of ~3 km per day. Becuase the ratio of berg length and width to thickness, this is not an iceberg that will turnover.

Existing rifting indicates that additional iceberg B will break off in the near future, behind this additional rifting indicates a weakness cutting across almost the entire glacier for additional calving that will occur in the next several years, though likely not as a single large ice berg. This is the largest observed calved ice berg in the Northern Hemisphere in 2026.