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.
Yeah, that’s not very typical. I’d like to make that point.
I tried to find the current location of the iceberg and was met with a sad reminder of how much data the U.S. government contributes. Basically, all the location updates came from NOAA, and those haven’t been updated since March.
Take that AMOC!
Within weeks? How is that supposed to be possible so fast?
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.
Wow, this is really disappointing. I thought A23a had what it took to last. I suppose in the end the fame and the pressure to live up to public expectations will break up even the strongest bonds.
No doubt the paparazzi following the 'berg around, shooting photos of every dip and rise, and the temptations found in warmer waters led to this demise.
