Iceberg B-15 was the largest recorded iceberg by area. It measured around , with a surface area of , about the size of the island of Jamaica. Calved from the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica in March 2000, Iceberg B-15 broke up into smaller icebergs, the largest of which was named Iceberg B-15-A. In 2003, B-15A drifted away from Ross Island into the Ross Sea and headed north, eventually breaking up into several smaller icebergs in October 2005. In 2018, a large piece of the original iceberg was steadily moving northward, located between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island. As of December 2022, the U.S. National Ice Center (USNIC) still lists one extant piece of B-15 that meets the minimum threshold for tracking (). This iceberg, B-15ab, measures ; it is currently grounded off the coast of Antarctica in the western sector of the Amery region. History In the last weeks of March 2000, Iceberg B-15 calved from the Ross Ice Shelf near Roosevelt Island, Antarctica. The calving occurred along pre-existing cracks in the ice shelf. The iceberg measured around , with a surface area of . Scientists believe that the enormous piece of ice broke away as part of a long-term natural cycle, which occurs every fifty to one hundred years. In 2000, 2002, and 2003, Iceberg B-15 broke up into several pieces, the largest of which, B-15A, covered of the sea surface. In November 2003, after the separation from B-15J, B-15A drifted away from Ross Island on the open waters of the Ross Sea. In December 2003, a small knife-shaped iceberg, B-15K (about 300 km2), detached itself from the main body of B-15A and started drifting northward. By January 2005, prevailing currents caused B-15A to drift toward the Drygalski Ice Tongue, a extension of the land-based David Glacier, which flows through the coastal mountains of Victoria Land. A few kilometres from the ice tongue, the iceberg became stranded on a shallow seamount before resuming its northward course. On 10 April 2005, B-15A collided with the ice tongue, breaking off the tip of the ice tongue; the iceberg seemed unaffected by the collision. Iceberg B-15A continued to drift along the coast leaving McMurdo Sound. On 27–28 October 2005, the iceberg ran aground off Cape Adare in Victoria Land and broke into several smaller pieces, generating seismic signals that were detected as far away as the Amundsen-Scott South Pole