World’s largest iceberg runs aground on remote island

The Manila Times

World’s largest iceberg runs aground on remote island  The world's largest and oldest iceberg A23a appears to have run aground off the British island of South Georgia, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The giant A23a, which first formed in 1986 and has been on the move since 2020, was first reported to have grounded on the continental shelf by South Georgia Island on March 1. Eyewitness video captured on Feb. 15 shows the scale of the iceberg, which according to the BAS, measures twice the size of Greater London and weighs nearly a trillion tonnes. Reuters was able to confirm the date and the location of the user-generated content from the original file metadata, statement from the source as well as the satellite data of the given date. Speaking with Reuters, BAS scientist Laura Taylor said the grounding of the iceberg was less of a concern on the local wildlife as the breeding season for seals and penguins was almost over.  KATE E. JAMIESON / REUTERS / NASA WORLDVIEW / BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews #iceberg #a23a  #climatechange

Transcript

00:00So there's been a lot of talk about A23A, it's had a somewhat unconventional life's

00:22history for an iceberg. I think the most recent thing people are talking about is when it

00:27broke free of the latest structure it was stuck in which was a rotating column which

00:30kept it fixed in the same place, it started moving very quickly in the direction of the

00:35island of South Georgia. The speed it was moving at and its sheer size means that if

00:47it was to ground on the shelf of the island it would have some consequences, it would

00:52cause a change because it's putting something that's about the same size of the island next

00:56to it that wasn't there before so that would disrupt the ecosystems in a way. This has

01:01happened now as of a few days ago and fortunately due to the timing the consequences maybe aren't

01:06as bad as people might have expected. The breeding season of most seals and penguins

01:11is now pretty much over so concerns that the iceberg would pose a massive obstacle to the

01:18parents being able to go and find food for the chicks and pups is less of a major concern.

01:37Where it's now stuck at least for now is in much warmer waters than where it's been before

01:41so we would expect this would massively accelerate the rate that the iceberg is melting and as

01:47it melts it's likely to break off into smaller chunks and shed lots of its surface area.

01:53For previous stone icebergs once they've got stuck near South Georgia that's been the last

01:57place that they'll be and they would melt from there but it's not impossible that the

02:00iceberg with a current in the right direction would become unstuck again and start moving

02:04so it can be hard to tell but it looks like this is heading towards the end for this iceberg.

02:23If you imagine a giant iceberg the one we're talking about is twice the size of Greater London,

02:27they're bigger than countries so they're massive chunks of ice that are moving through the ocean

02:31to places they weren't before so you're putting this massive expanse of a different material into

02:36a place that has not necessarily ever had that before so you're completely changing what's going on.

02:51So this could involve changes to the physics of how the water moves around the ocean

02:55especially in Antarctica where the melting of fresh water contributes to forming the deepest

03:01water in the world which spreads throughout the whole planet over time.

03:06Then when the ice is melting it isn't just water that's in the ice but it contains all kinds of

03:11sediments and materials and different ratios of nutrients that are also being released into

03:18the water which has a massive impact on life and this can allow different phytoplankton so

03:25the tiny plants in the ocean to grow and it provides different food sources for bigger

03:29things like krill and then penguins, seals and whales.

03:55you

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