NASA
The A23A iceberg is the largest in the world – for a short time
A23a, the monumental iceberg that detached in 1986 from the Filchner-Ronne ice platform in Antarctica and has been wandering through the southern seas of the planet, will quickly forsake into several very large fragments and cease to exist.
It was a long and unusual journey to the largest iceberg in the world, known as, but is ending in a relatively usual way: fragment and melt In the hottest waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, just as the iceberments have been doing millions of years ago.
As John Cleese said in the mortal sketch from the Monty Python, this It will be a former hobby: will stop being, will expire and meet your creator…
According to scientists at British Antarctic Survey (Bas), who have been following their movements, the iceberg, which at one point has twice the size of Madeira Island, is “fell on in several very large fragments ”,
The A23A has been closely followed by scientists, or detached, from Platform de Gelo Filchner-Ronnein Antarctica, in 1986.
Since then, it has sometimes been ostesting the title of “Largest iceberg in the world”-Sometimes surpassed by other larger but shorter life, recovering it when they fragmented.
It is also the iceberg older in circulationhaving managed to delay his Natural destination when getting stuck Not one, but twice, after separating from his “Bergue Mother”-which allowed him to stay in colder waters longer than most.
But now, cOM almost 40 yearsyour trip seems to be coming to an end.
“The iceberg is shattering quickly and losing very large fragments, considered themselves large icebergos by the US National Ice Center, which monitors them, ”he said Andrew MeijersBas Oceanographer, Ao.
“O a23a derived so north that is in a place where this size of this size cannot survive”, He explains Ted Scambossenior researcher at the University of Colorado in Boulder, expert in the polar regions.
“This It is part of the normal life cycle of iceberguessomething that happens there are millennia, and It does not seem to be related to climate change ”Explains Scambos.
“It is really quite typical and normal. It is one of those big and spectacular things that our planet has as part of its daily functioning, ”he adds.
What was not normal was the path of the A23A to this point. He was stranded for decades at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, after being arrested In shallow waters after being detached in the 1980s. He only set free in 2020, and began in late 2023.
In August 2024, – this time to slowly rotate in a kind of ocean vortex known as Taylor column. There remained, the whip In satellite images, for months, before release again at the end of last year, driven by the strong current towards the north.
Num last dramatic actthe A23A signaled that it could reach the island of Georgia do Sul earlier this year, threatening the colonies of seals and penguins, but eventually ran into about 80 kilometers from the island coast in March.
Meijers explains that the A23A is now in waters at a temperature well above the freezing point, which means that will fragment quickly In the coming weeks.
“This, coupled with the fact that it moves more and more to the north and the arrival of southern spring, makes it likely to quickly disintegrate in iceberments too small to continue to be monitored”He says.
Finally, will become too small to be seen by satellite, marking the end of an age that lasted decades for the scientists who accompanied him.
