Scientists around the world, as also fishermen and sailors, have their anxious eyes glued on satellite pictures as they are monitoring the daily movements of an iceberg touted to be the world’s largest and also one of the oldest. It is feared that the iceberg A23a, on the move for more than a month now, is headed north from Antarctica and is on a collision course with an island in the South Atlantic.
The island A23a could hit in South Georgia, a wildlife haven in the British territory, endangering the lives of penguins and seals. The area is home to colonies of King and Emperor penguins, and also serves as a habitat for elephant and fur seals.
Currently, the iceberg is around 280 km away from the island, according to a BBC report. Giant icebergs in the past have killed many seals and birds on the icy coves and beaches of South Georgia, it said.
“Icebergs are inherently dangerous. I would be extraordinarily happy if it just completely missed us,” sea captain Simon Wallace told BBC News from Pharos, a South Georgia government vessel.
When measured in August 2024, the iceberg spanned an area of 3,672 square km, which makes it slightly smaller than Rhode Island in size, according to a CNN report.
The BBC report, however, said the latest satellite pictures show it now spans around 3,500 sq km, decaying from its previously measured size of 3,900 sq km.
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History Of A23a, And Its Current Status
A23a has a long past that goes back at least three decades. It was in 1986 that the iceberg broke off from the Filchner ice shelf in Antarctica.
It, however, remained stuck on the sea floor, spinning around “trapped” in an ocean vortex, reports said. Scientists have carefully tracked it for these 30-odd years.
In December last year, A23a finally broke free and is now speeding forward, presumably towards the remote British island.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) had said in December scientists expected it to continue drifting toward warmer water along the ocean currents. On reaching South Georgia, the BAS statement said, it was likely to break up before melting eventually.
According to the BBC report, the warmer waters north of the icy continent are melting and thereby weakening the vast cliffs of Antarctica. Some of these cliffs stand up to 1,312 feet high, taller than the Eiffel Tower in London.
With large slabs of ice already breaking off the iceberg, A23a could further break into large segments and float around the island of South Georgia for years.
It’s to be seen now if the iceberg will head for the open South Atlantic following the current, or it will hit the continental shelf and remain stuck there.
“If this happens, it could seriously impede access to feeding grounds for the wildlife – seals and penguins mostly – that breed on the island,” CNN quoted Andrew Meijers, a physical oceanographer at the BAS, as saying.
DO YOU WANT TO BREAK FREE!?
Well, you’re not alone – Iceberg #A23a, the world’s largest and oldest #iceberg, is on the move!
Learn how it escaped 👇https://t.co/MQHd8TfVSL pic.twitter.com/G3J0U2KfFz
— British Antarctic Survey 🐧 (@BAS_News) December 13, 2024
South Georgia’s Tryst With Giant Icebergs
Icebergs are not new to South Georgia. The island has been threatened by icebergs in the past also.
In 2004, the BBC report said, iceberg A38 left many penguin chicks and seal pups dead on the island’s beaches with massive ice chunks blocking their access to feeding grounds.
“South Georgia sits in iceberg alley so impacts are to be expected for both fisheries and wildlife, and both have a great capacity to adapt,” Mark Belchier, a marine ecologist and adviser to the South Georgia government, was quoted as saying in the report.
In 2023, iceberg A76 gave the sailors and fishermen a scare.
“Chunks of it were tipping up, so they looked like great ice towers, an ice city on the horizon,” said Belchier, who was at sea then and saw the iceberg.
Those slabs are still hanging around the South Georgia and Sandwich islands.
“Those pieces basically cover the island – we have to work our way through it,” Captain Wallace said, adding that sailors on his ship had to remain vigilant on the time. “We have searchlights on all night to try to see ice – it can come from nowhere.”
A76 was a “gamechanger” due to the “huge impact on our operations and on keeping our vessel and crew safe”, said Andrew Newman from fishing company Argos Froyanes that works in South Georgia.
