The world’s largest iceberg – which is roughly the size of Cornwall – nearly collided with a tiny British island, threatening its penguin and seal populations. A23a once spanned a staggering 1,505 square miles, but recent satellite imagery revealed it is slowly shrinking, leaving it at approximately 1,351 square miles. The giant mass initially split from the Filchner Ice Shelf in Antarctica back in 1986, only to become trapped on the seabed and in an ocean vortex.
However, it broke free in December and embarked on a journey north from Antarctica to South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean. Previous disasters saw birds and seals dying in the frozen conditions of the island when massive icebergs cut off their access to their feeding grounds.
Captain Simon Wallace of the South Georgia government ship Pharos told the BBC: « Icebergs are inherently dangerous. I would be extraordinarily happy if it just completely missed us. »
Scientists, sailors and fishermen are all still inspecting satellite images day by day to track the iceberg’s journey. A23a could fracture into enormous pieces that could continue drifting through the ocean for years.
South Georgia has no permanent human population, though the number of people on the island fluctuates seasonally.
The island is uninhabited due to its remoteness and lack of infrastructure; the only people on the island are temporary residents working at research stations. Icebergs disrupting its environment isn’t a new phenomenon.
In 2004, an iceberg named A38 got stuck on the continental shelf of the region, resulting in the tragic deaths of local wildlife such as penguin chicks and seal pups, who couldn’t reach their feeding areas.
Marine ecologist Mark Belchier, who provides advice to the South Georgia government, explained to the BBC: « 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.
« Chunks of it were tipping up, so they looked like great ice towers, an ice city on the horizon. »
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