The iceberg with the nickname A23a, which for 30 years has literally been tied to the seabed in the Weddel Sea, has now broken free and set its course northwards with an uncertain fate.
The arduous journey has been discussed by several international media, including BBC.
The internet is boiling: – Unreal!
Gigantic
“Island” is probably a better term for the iceberg, which has a total size of no less than 4,000 square kilometers.
This roughly corresponds to the area of Oslo nine times or the whole of Luxemburg one and a half times.
A23a split from the Antarctic coastline in 1986, and has since settled in the Weddel Sea, until it launched its own liberation struggle in 2020.
Nevertheless, scientists were only able to finally determine this year that the ice island with a thickness of 400 meters has completely let go.
– The time has come
Scientists have admittedly not been able to say why the iceberg – or the island – only started to move now – after a long-term stay of over 30 years in the middle of the sea.
– I discussed this with a couple of colleagues, and wondered whether temperature changes in the shelf water could have been the trigger, but there was broad agreement that the time had just come, Andrew Flemming, a remote sensing expert from the British Antarctic Survey, told the BBC.
The mountain has been taken by the wind, and it is expected that it will follow the Southern Ocean current, which in turn will carry the island towards the South Atlantic.
The mountain is currently located near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
– Life-giving
It is expected that the iceberg will eventually melt completely. During the melting process, icebergs give off mineral dust. This should be important for several organisms.
– In several areas, the icebergs are life-giving. They are the starting point for a significant amount of biological activity, says Catherine Walker from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to the same newspaper.
2023-11-24 20:45:36
#worlds #largest #iceberg #roof
