World’s Largest Iceberg On Collision Path With South Georgia

The world’s largest iceberg, nearly the size of a small country, is headed towards the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Known as A68a, the massive iceberg broke off the Larsen C ice shelf in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea, along the Antarctic Peninsula’s east coast. 

Comparing A68a’s Size Too Small Islands 

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BAS warned A68a has the potential to collide with South Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean that belongs to the British Overseas territories. They said there’s a strong possibility the berg “could disrupt the local wildlife that forages in the food-rich ocean.”

A68a’s Path 

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A-68a broke off the Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017 and is about the same size as South Georgia, measuring 93 miles long and 30 miles wide and has since drifted 870 miles north through “iceberg alley” and is about 310 miles from the island. 

A68a Approaching South Georgia 

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BAS remote-sensing and mapping specialist Dr. Peter Fretwell said satellite imagery suggests A68a could be on a direct path for South Georgia: 

“Whether it grounds and gets stuck or drifts past the island is in the balance,” Fretwell said. “The currents should take it on what looks like a strange loop around the south end of South Georgia, before then spinning it along the edge of the continental shelf and back off to the northwest. But it’s very difficult to say precisely what will happen.”

BAS Remote Sensing Manager Andrew Fleming said the idea that the berg “is in one large piece is actually remarkable, particularly given the huge fractures you see running through it in the radar imagery.”

“I’d fully expected it to have broken apart by now. If it spins around South Georgia and heads on northwards, it should start breaking up. It will very quickly get into warmer waters, and wave action especially will start killing it off,” Fleming said. 

It’s only a matter of time before Greta Thunberg and her gang of social media climate change trolls point at the massive iceberg, suggesting it has to do with climate change.