NEW DELHI: After being grounded for more than three decades, one of the world’s largest icebergs is drifting beyond Antarctic waters, reported ABC News citing a survey.
According to the British Antarctic Survey, the icebergcalled A23a broke away from Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. However, it got stuck to the ocean floor and stayed in the Weddell Sea for many years.
The iceberg is enormous, being approximately three times the size of New York City and more than twice the size of Greater London, measuring around 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).
Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert at the British Antarctic Survey, on Friday, told the BBC that the iceberg, known as A23a, has been in motion for the past year and is currently gaining speed as it moves beyond the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, propelled by wind and ocean currents.
“I asked a couple of colleagues about this, wondering if there was any possible change in shelf water temperatures that might have provoked it, but the consensus is the time had just come,” Fleming told the BBC.
“It was grounded since 1986, but eventually it was going to decrease (in size) sufficiently was to lose grip and start moving,” he added.
Fleming first noticed the iceberg’s movement in 2020. The British Antarctic Survey has confirmed that it is now dislodged and is drifting along ocean currents towards the sub-Antarctic region of South Georgia.
According to the British Antarctic Survey, the icebergcalled A23a broke away from Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986. However, it got stuck to the ocean floor and stayed in the Weddell Sea for many years.
The iceberg is enormous, being approximately three times the size of New York City and more than twice the size of Greater London, measuring around 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 square miles).
Andrew Fleming, a remote sensing expert at the British Antarctic Survey, on Friday, told the BBC that the iceberg, known as A23a, has been in motion for the past year and is currently gaining speed as it moves beyond the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, propelled by wind and ocean currents.
“I asked a couple of colleagues about this, wondering if there was any possible change in shelf water temperatures that might have provoked it, but the consensus is the time had just come,” Fleming told the BBC.
“It was grounded since 1986, but eventually it was going to decrease (in size) sufficiently was to lose grip and start moving,” he added.
Fleming first noticed the iceberg’s movement in 2020. The British Antarctic Survey has confirmed that it is now dislodged and is drifting along ocean currents towards the sub-Antarctic region of South Georgia.
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