Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
The world’s largest iceberg has broken loose from the ocean floor and is about to exit Antarctic waters for the first time. At almost 4,000 sq kilometres in total area and 400 metres in thickness, the iceberg – known as A23a – is roughly the size of Rhode Island and almost 100 metres taller than The Shard. After breaking free from the Antarctic’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, A23a quickly became moored in the Weddell Sea and remained there for more than 30 years. In the past year, it’s begun to drift slowly away from Antarctica – more recently picking up speed. Although the glacial mass doesn’t pose a threat to human safety, it could disrupt animals and other wildlife as it approaches feeding and breeding grounds in the South Atlantic Ocean. While climate change is undoubtedly causing significant losses to Antarctic ice, Chad Greene from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says it’s common for big chunks to break off from one of the ice shelves. “Icebergs are like earthquakes,” he told the NewScientist, “we get lots of tiny ones, and a few really big ones like A23[a].”
