The largest iceberg in the world has remained largely intact because it derived in the ocean, but scientists say that a 19 -kilometer (12 miles) piece has now cleaned.
A huge part broke the largest iceberg in the world, in a first possible sign that the Antarctic giant could collapse, scientists told AFP on Friday.
The colossal iceberg – which is more than double the size of the London Grand London and weighs near a Tons Billion – had been largely intact since it started to move north slowly in 2020.
It derived from the remote island of southern Georgia in the South Atlantic, which could run aground in shallow waters and disrupt food for penguins and babies for babies.
But a piece of about 19 kilometers (12 miles) cleaned, said Andrew Meijers of the British Antarctic Survey, who met the iceberg at the end of 2023 and followed his fate via satellite since.
“This is certainly the first important clear tranche of the iceberg which appeared,” the physical oceanographer told AFP.
Soledad Tiranti, a glaciologist currently on an Argentinian exploration trip to Antarctica, also told AFP that a section was “broken”.
The shredded room has an area of approximately 80 square kilometers (31 square miles) – the hypergène in its own right, but just a fraction of around 3,360 square kilometers that remained.
Meijers said that the icebergs were full of deep fractures, and although this monumental specimen has shrunk over time and lost a much smaller room, it was “very well kept”.
“This is a sign that these rifts are starting to break,” he said.
In the past, other Mega-Iidebergs had collapsed “relatively quickly in several weeks” once they started losing big pieces, he said.
It was difficult to say if it was “a loose tooth waiting to go out” or evidence of a much more important change in class.
“I’m sorry to say it, but it’s not really an exact science of how these things are disintegrating … It is really difficult to say if it will explode now, or it will stay together for longer”, said Meijers.
Known as A23A, the largest and oldest iceberg in the world has gripped the Antarctic plateau in 1986.
He remained stuck for more than 30 years before finally freeing himself in 2020, his trip from the exercise to the north is sometimes delayed by the ocean forces which kept it in place.
This block of freshwater monsters was led by the most powerful “jet stream” in the world – the circumpolar current of Antarctica.
Meijers said that his trajectory towards southern Georgia, a crucial food for seals and penguins, would change little time because she had lost this piece.
But if it would collapse more, it would represent “much less threat to fauna” because animals for food research could maneuver without hindrance between small pieces to find food, he added.
The icebergs had been anchored in the past and had caused significant mortality to penguin chicks and seal the puppies.
Tiranti said the iceberg should continue to walk north, but that its exact course greatly depended on how local currents influenced its movements.
© 2025 AFP
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