‘Megaberg’ known as A23a has rapidly disintegrated in warmer waters and could disappear within weeks

Nearly 40 years after breaking off Antarctica, a colossal iceberg ranked among the oldest and largest ever recorded is finally crumbling apart in warmer waters, and could disappear within weeks.

Earlier this year, the “megaberg” known as A23a weighed a little under a trillion tonnes and was more than twice the size of Greater London, a behemoth unrivalled at the time.

The gigantic slab of frozen freshwater was so large it even briefly threatened penguin feeding grounds on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, but ended up moving on.

It is now less than half its original size, but still a hefty 1,770 sq km (683 sq miles) and 60km (37 miles) at its widest point, according to AFP analysis of satellite images by the EU Earth observation monitor Copernicus.

    • lividweasel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      19·
      9 days ago

      That caught me eye too. The article says a bit more about it:

      “I’d say it’s very much on its way out … it’s basically rotting underneath. The water is way too warm for it to maintain. It’s constantly melting,” he said.

      “I expect that to continue in the coming weeks, and expect it won’t be really identifiable within a few weeks.”

      The way I interpret that is that it will have broken up enough that it would no longer be identifiable as the single iceberg A23a, but there would still be lots of its ice floating around.