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World's largest iceberg begins sinking on remote island

2025-03-04 20:42:00, Kuriozitete CNA

The world's largest iceberg, A23a, has begun sinking into shallow waters off the British island of South Georgia, home to millions of penguins and seals. With a surface area about twice the size of London, the iceberg is stuck and could begin to break up off the island's southwestern coast.

Fishermen fear they may have to deal with large chunks of ice, which could also affect penguins. However, scientists in Antarctica say that there are huge amounts of food inside the iceberg, and its melting could cause an "explosion of life in the ocean."

"It's like dropping a nutrient bomb in the middle of an empty desert," says Professor Nadine Johnston of the British Antarctic Survey. Ecologist Mark Belchier said: "If it melts it is likely to pose a risk to ships as they move in local currents and could restrict ships' access to local fishing grounds."

This is the latest change in the iceberg's nearly 40-year history, since it broke away from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in 1986. In February of this year, the iceberg began moving rapidly, reaching about 20 miles per day.

"The future of all icebergs is that they will die. It's quite surprising to see that A23a has lasted this long and has only lost about a quarter of its area," said Prof Huw Griffiths, speaking to BBC News from the polar research ship Sir David Attenborough currently in Antarctica.

On Saturday, the 300-meter-long ice colossus hit the shallow continental shelf about 50 miles (80 km) from land and now appears to be firmly established.

"It will probably stay more or less where it is until the pieces break off ," says Prof Andrew Meijers from the British Antarctic Survey.

The tides will now lift it up and down, and where it touches the continental shelf, it will erode rock and ice.

" If the ice underneath is rotten, eroded by salt, it will crumble and perhaps move somewhere shallower ," says Prof Meijers.

In 2004, an iceberg in another area called the Ross Sea affected the penguins' breeding success, leading to a spike in penguin deaths. But experts now think most of South Georgia's birds and animals will escape that fate.

Icebergs melt freshwater into saltwater, reducing the amount of food available. Birds could move to other food sources, but that would put them in competition with other creatures./ CNA