An iceberg in Antarctica is on a collision course with a penguin sanctuary.

An iceberg, believed to be the largest in the world, is about to collide with a remote island in the South Atlantic. The island that the iceberg could collide with has thousands of penguins and seals living on it. If the collision occurs as expected, the penguins and seals will lose their homes. These creatures will find it very difficult to find food, as told by scientists.

An iceberg collision can be disastrous

The separation of icebergs from Antarctica in watery oceans occurs naturally. But in recent years the process has accelerated due to the warming of the environment. In this particular case, the separation of the iceberg will have a disastrous effect on wildlife in the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia. The iceberg on the collision path is named A68a. It has the shape of a closed hand with one finger pointing outwards. It separated from the Larsen Ice Shelf located on the West Antarctic Peninsula in 2017. This part of Antarctica warmed much faster than most other parts.

If the iceberg continues its course, it will encounter the island’s shallow waters within a period of 20-30 days. The iceberg is very massive in size, several times that of greater London. The A68a iceberg is 93 miles long and 30 miles wide. Its depth is less than 200 meters. Andrew Fleming of the British Antarctic Survey said: “We believe the odds of A68a colliding with the island are 50/50.”

The island is home to numerous penguins belonging to the King species. They have a bright yellow color on their heads. In addition, the island is also home to many other penguin species such as macaroni, chinstrap, and gentoo. South Georgia is also native to huge populations of seals and birds such as albatrosses. The collision can be devastating for penguins and seals as it will block the foraging paths. This will cause a survival threat to the little penguins and seals.

The stored carbon will be released

Geraint Tarling, also of the British Antarctic Survey, said: “The collision of the iceberg with the island will cause a serious decline in the world population of penguins and seals.” It would also cause the destruction of organisms and ecosystems on the sea floor, which would take hundreds of years to recover. As a result, the carbon within these organisms will be released into the ocean and add to that released by human activities.

As the A68a moved on the waves in the South Atlantic, it made a fabulous act of distributing microscopic food material to the smaller creatures living in the ocean. Tarling said: “Over the course of its life, the iceberg has collected a lot of nutrients and dust, and is now leaching and fertilizing the oceans.”

Until the end of the last century, the Larsen ice shelf was stable. It had remained that way for the past 10,000 years. However, in 1995, much of it fragmented, followed by another in 2002. These events were followed by the separation of the nearby Wilkins ice shelf in 2008 and 2009 and the A68a iceberg in 2017. In each of the aforementioned accidents, the main cause of fragmentation was Hydrofracturing. It is a phenomenon that occurs when water enters the cracks on the surface of the ice. It causes the ice to crack further.