MODIS true color images of an iceberg off the coast of South Georgia Island, 18 April 2004.
Between April 12 and 18, 2004, the A38-B glacier floating off of the coast of South Georgia Island dramatically split in two. This series of true-color Terra and Aqua MODIS images show the iceberg in different stages of splitting - whole on the 12th, split on the 15th, completely separated on the 17th, and rapidly floating away from each other on the 18th.
The above image is a short animation displaying the progression of the iceberg at each of the four stages. The images from April 17 and April 18 are taken after the iceberg had split and had started drifting apart. High-resolution images of the iceberg are available on the MODIS Rapid Response site.
This iceberg was calved in mid 1999, probably off of the Ronne Ice Shelf. For years it moved slowly along the Antarctic Peninsula, and by the end of 2003 it had reached the South Orkney islands, which are about 500 miles southwest of South Georgia Island.
Text and images courtesy of NASA's MODIS Land Rapid Response Team.