Ice Island Survives Run-In With Joe Island

In summer 2026, a substantial iceberg calved from Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland and swiftly drifted into Nares Strait, colliding with an island along the way. The iceberg, roughly the size of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, was the largest calving event by any Arctic glacier since 2020. It measured just over 76 square kilometers at the time of calving. The calving was spotted on August 4 by Adam Garbo, a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa, using satellite imagery. The iceberg drifted down Petermann Fjord at an average of 3 kilometers per day and rammed into Joe Island at the mouth of the fjord, but surprisingly survived the interaction without further fragmentation. It then continued southwest through Nares Strait, where it will gradually fracture into smaller pieces. Scientists are monitoring the glacier for signs of instability, as its future stability has implications for sea level rise.