World’s largest iceberg, formerly part of Antarctica, is moving away from the continent and has had scientists around the world focus their gaze on it. The iceberg, named A23a, had detached itself from the Antarctic shore in 1986 but had grounded itself to become a sort of an ‘ice island’. But now, its movement may soon take it beyond Antarctic waters.
A23a is almost 4,000 sq km in area. This makes it more than twice the size of Greater London. When it split from Antarctica in 1986, it had a Soviet research base on it. The Soviets quickly sent an expedition to the iceberg thinking they were about to lose the base and all the equipment.
But A23a, after detaching itself from Antarctica, got ‘grounded’ in the Weddell Sea. But after 40 years of being in place, it is moving again.
“I asked a couple of colleagues about this, wondering if there was any possible change in shelf water temperatures that might have provoked it, but the consensus is the time had just come,” said Dr Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert from the British Antarctic Survey.
“It was grounded since 1986 but eventually it was going to decrease (in size) sufficiently to lose grip and start moving. I spotted first movement back in 2020.”
Fleming was quoted by BBC.
The movement of A23a has quickened in recent months due to winds and currents. It is being predicted that it’ll get tossed towards southern part of the Atlantic Ocean near an island named South Georgia. The island is home to millions of seals, penguins and other birds. There is fear that if A23a moves near South Georgia Island, it may interfere with the habitat of wild animals and birds there and may even affect their food source. But these are speculations at the moment.
BBC has quoted experts to say that the detachment of the iceberg and its movement away from Antarctica may not exactly be a fallout of climate change.
(With inputs from agencies)
