Russian icebreakers save Arctic oil platform from MASSIVE iceberg

Originally appeared on Sputnik

The iceberg, the largest and heaviest chunk of floating ice ever moved by Russia, weighs more than twice as much as the notorious one that sent the Titanic to the bottom of the Atlantic on that fateful night of April 15, 1912.

The course of the giant berg was changed to steer it away from eventually colliding with an oil platform.

Experts use echo sounders to determine the size and mass of icebergs above and underwater, which are then towed by several icebreakers or auxiliary ships with cables and nets.

Moving icebergs is a way to help protect marine infrastructure, such as oil and gas platforms on the Arctic shelf, from interaction with icebergs.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates’ National Advisor Bureau Limited has announced plans to tow icebergs from Antarctica to the country’s coast as part of a plan to release fresh water into the Arabian Sea to rebuild an ecological balance, reduce seawater salinity and restore biodiversity, Arabian Business news portal reported.

Experts warn, however, that the move could cause significant climate change in the region as cold air gushing out from an iceberg would cause rainstorms year-round.

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest mass of ice on Earth with 10 thousand trillion tons of snow and ice and contains most of the world’s fresh water.