The world's largest iceberg, A23a, whose area is about three times the size of New York City, weighs almost a trillion tons, reports CBS News affiliate network BBC News, citing data from the European Space Agency (ESA). Using data from the agency's CryoSat-2 mission, a spacecraft equipped with a type of radar that can measure how much of an iceberg's mass is above water, scientists were able to determine information about how much is underwater .
A23a broke away from Antarctica in 1986 and became stuck almost immediately after a deep section of it hit the seafloor. Recently it came loose and started drifting again.
Iceberg A23a is seen in a European Space Agency image from November 14, 2023. / Photo credit: European Space Agency
“Over the last decade we have seen a steady decline in thickness of 2.5 m (about 8 feet) per year, which would be expected given water temperatures in the Weddell Sea,” said Andy Ridout, a scientist from University College London The Natural Environment Research Council Center for Polar Observation and Modeling told CBS News affiliate network BBC News.
The video shows the ship's “incredibly lucky” encounter with the world's largest iceberg
Once again in motion, it is still unclear where A23a will be carried by wind and ocean currents. The huge iceberg has reached the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, where various currents converge.
It is expected to drift through an area known as an “iceberg alley,” the BBC said, and its track will impact every part of the ocean and seabed it passes over.
Icebergs are “responsible for the very deep mixing of seawater,” Mike Meredith, a professor at the British Antarctic Survey, told the BBC.
“They stir up the seawater and bring nutrients to the surface, and of course they also drop a lot of dust. All of this will fertilize the ocean. You often see phytoplankton blooms in their wake.”
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