The largest iceberg in the world heads directly to South Georgia Island



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Named the A68, the largest iceberg in the world, it is currently making its way to the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, where it could strike in less than a month. If it were to anchor to the sea floor, the structure could disturb the local fauna.

In 2017, the Midas project, which brings together British researchers with the aim of monitoring area C of the Larsen ice barrier, east of the Antarctic ice sheet, confirmed the news: a giant iceberg has just fallen. detach. Called the A68, the structure, whose mass was close to one trillion tons, covered an area of ​​5,800 km² at the time. It is more than fifty times the area of ​​the city of Paris.

This “largest iceberg in the world” did not cause sea level rise. And for good reason, it was already floating on the water when it detached. The European Space Agency (ESA), on the other hand, explained that the iceberg could pose a danger to maritime traffic if it broke into small pieces. A priori, the structure held up well. The iceberg has actually shrunk a bit over the past three years, but it still remains a monster, measuring around 158km in length and 48km at its widest point.

South Georgia Island Information
A68 worries researchers today for another reason. Indeed, recent satellite data suggests that the facility is heading directly to the British island of South Georgia. This isn’t the first. Many icebergs tend to follow this sea route which takes them to the island.

By contrast, the A68 is of a completely different caliber, especially since it isn’t very deep. According to data collected by satellite altimetry from her birth in 2017, researchers had estimated that her thickness was less than two hundred meters. “This measurement has not been repeated recently, so the current thickness has to be a bit thinner due to some melting over the past three years,” the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) spokesperson points out.

This iceberg could become a problem for local wildlife
This is particularly what worries the researchers. With such thickness, in fact, it is not impossible for the iceberg to anchor itself to the bottom of the sea. If this is the case, it would disrupt local wildlife, disrupting sea routes by allowing some animals to feed. Seals and penguins in particular should therefore make huge detours to forage for food, leaving their young even more unattended. It would also be a problem for seafloor organisms, which could find themselves “suffocated” by the invading iceberg.

The facility is currently located a few hundred kilometers southwest of the island of South Georgia. It is estimated that it could reach British territory in twenty or thirty days and be “stuck there” for nearly ten years.

Note that a “collision” with South Georgia is not 100% certain. Peter Fretwell, a specialist in BAS mapping and remote sensing, estimates that there is a 50% chance that the iceberg will continue north instead of getting stuck.

If so, he predicts that the ice structure could wrap around the southern end of the island, move along the continental shelf, and then head northwest. Subjected to the force of the waves and bathing in increasingly warm waters, it could then gradually disintegrate. However, “it remains very difficult to say precisely what will happen,” concludes the researcher.

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