LOOK. Recent satellite images show the mountain drifting quickly past the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula
The animals living on the island and on the seabed could be crushed by the ice mass, and their access to food could be cut off. According to scientists, the iceberg could also drift further towards South Africa, where it could potentially disrupt shipping. “An iceberg of this size has the potential to survive in the Southern Ocean for quite some time, even though it is much warmer,” glaciologist Oliver Marsh of the British Antarctic Survey told Reuters.
A23a, that is the name of the ice floe, with its 4,000 square kilometers is approximately twice the size of the province of Flemish Brabant. In addition, the enormous thing weighs a trillion – that’s a 1 with 12 zeros – tons and is 400 meters thick. Seeing an iceberg of this size move is rare, Marsh said. It is currently unclear why the mountain is drifting away from Antarctica and increasing in speed.
The floe broke off from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf on the Weddell Sea in Antarctica in 1986. There was a Soviet research station on the iceberg at the time. It became stuck at the bottom of the ocean, where it formed an ice island for more than thirty years. Three years ago the masses started moving again. Since then, scientists have noticed that A23a is drifting faster and faster towards the north.