Massive 11-million-ton iceberg towers over little village in Greenland

A colossal 11-million ton iceberg is towering over a tiny Greenland village, captured in one of the most jaw-dropping photos you’ll see this week.

Taken by Karl Petersen on Friday, the photograph shows an enormous 650-feet-wide iceberg sitting dangerously close to the village of Innarsuit, an island settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. 

Why is this a threat? According to Greenland national newspaper Sermitsiaq, some residents of the 169-population village have evacuated for fear of a tsunami, if parts of the iceberg start breaking off this close to the village’s shore, causing large waves.

According to the Danish Meteorological Institute, reported by The New York Times, satellite data puts the iceberg at approximately 650 feet wide, 300 feet above the water level, and weighing 11 million tons.

In fact, the iceberg is so gigantic, it was picked up by the EU’s Sentinel-2A satellite — yep, you can literally see it from space.

According to the Times, local officials are hoping that the iceberg will be carried away by southerly winds and rising tides before any pieces of it can break off. Fingers crossed.

[h/t Axios]