NASA Worldview
- A23a, the world's biggest iceberg, is on the move 37 years after it broke off from Antarctica.
- The iceberg, which covers about 1,500 square miles, is set to enter the Atlantic Ocean.
- Scientists will keep a close eye on it as it could threaten wildlife near South Georgia Island.
The world's biggest iceberg, covering about 1,500 square miles, is on the move.
The 1,312 ft-feet-tall iceberg is now drifting and is set to leave the Weddell Sea, where it has been grounded since the 1980s, the BBC reported Friday
A23a was once part of the Filchner ice shelf and was home to many research stations throughout the 20th century, including the Soviet Union's research station Druzhnaya 1.
But in 1986, when the ice shelf collapsed, it was cut adrift, changing Antarctica's coastline forever.
Since then, it had remained attached to the Weddell sea floor, but by August 2022 the iceberg's tether had melted away and A23a started its current voyage across the Weddell Sea.
"It was grounded since 1986 but eventually it was going to decrease sufficiently to lose grip and start moving," Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert from the British Antarctic Survey, told the BBC.
NASA Worldview
A23a lost its title of world's biggest iceberg in May 2021, but jumped ahead once again in October 2022, when the previous record-holder, A76, broke into three pieces, per the Guinness World Records website.
The iceberg has now past the Larsen ice shelf and is entering the treacherous South Atlantic.
As it floats toward South Georgia Island, this city-sized mass of ice is likely to follow the fate of numerous icebergs before it — slowly melting into the waters around it.
But on its way through the Atlantic Ocean, the A23a could offer some challenges.
The risk when massive icebergs move into this "iceberg alley" is that they get stuck in the shallow waters near South Georgia Island, which is home to seal pups and penguin chicks, the BBC reported.
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If that happens, it could cut the animals off from the ocean, which is their source of food.
Still, there could be some good news. Scientists now know that icebergs can carry minerals scrapped from the ocean floor.
These can be dispersed as the icebergs melt into the ocean, providing nutrients for local wildlife, the BBC reported.