As feared, the world’s largest iceberg, slowly drifting north from Antarctica, appears to be on a collision course with South Georgia Island. The iceberg, officially named A23a, is heading straight for the island which is home to colonies of king penguins and millions of elephants and fur seals which are at risk of being stranded. As the BBC reports, “countless birds and seals” have died on the island of South Georgia. coasts when other giant icebergs collided with the island, preventing animals from reaching the ocean for food. Although it slowly melts as it reaches warmer waters, A23a remains truly massive, measuring approximately 1,351 square miles – as vast as South Georgia itself – with towering cliffs taller than the Empire State Building.
Scientists and sailors track the daily movements of the A23a using satellite images. About 170 miles from South Georgia, the iceberg is already losing large patches of ice and could break into larger sections “any day now,” the BBC reports. There are fears the iceberg could crash into the continental shelf around the island, as another iceberg did in 2004, preventing penguin chicks and seal pups from accessing feeding grounds, according to the report. London Standard. Another iceberg, the A76, narrowly avoided running aground in 2023, but pieces remain in surrounding waters, causing headaches for sailors. “Impacts are expected on both fisheries and wildlife,” Mark Belchier, a marine ecologist who advises the government, told the BBC. However, “both have a great capacity for adaptation”. (More iceberg stories.)
