Here’s some glacial recognition.
The largest iceberg on the planet is on the move for the first time in decades, barreling toward the Southern Ocean, scientists announced Friday.
The iceberg, known as A23a, is roughly 1,500 square miles — about three times the size of New York City.
The massive block of ice, which was once home to a Soviet research station, originally broke off from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in West Antarctica in 1986. It’s been stranded in the Waddell Sea since its base became stuck on the ocean floor.
Now the nearly trillion metric ton chunk is quickly drifting past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, fueled by strong winds and ocean currents, satellite images show.
“Over time it’s probably just thinned slightly and got that little bit of extra buoyancy that’s allowed it to lift off the ocean floor and get pushed by ocean currents,” British Antarctic Survey glaciologist Oliver Marsh told Reuters, adding it’s rare to see an iceberg of this size on the move.
A23a, which is among the world’s oldest icebergs, is being closely monitored by scientists as it heads north.
The iceberg will likely be launched into the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This will funnel it toward the Southern Ocean on a path known as “iceberg alley” where others of its kind can be found bobbing in the frigid waters.
Scientists are concerned that A23a could become grounded at South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic, which could have a potentially disastrous impact on Antarctic wildlife.
Millions of seals, penguins, and seabirds breed on the island and forage in the surrounding waters, which could be cut off by the giant berg.
A crisis was averted in 2020 when another iceberg, A68, appeared like it might collide with South Georgia but fortunately broke up into smaller pieces. A23a could meet a similar fate, or even continue traveling northward.
But “an iceberg of this scale has the potential to survive for quite a long time in the Southern Ocean, even though it’s much warmer, and it could make its way farther north up toward South Africa where it can disrupt shipping,” said Marsh.
With Post wires