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The world’s largest iceberg was filmed from the air by a UK Air Force reconnaissance plane. The 4,200-square-kilometer icy colossus was baptized with the little original name A68a and is now 150 kilometers off the coast of San Pedro Island., in the South Georgia archipelago.
The mole is of a size similar to that of the Argentine island of the South Atlantic occupied by the British, says the newspaper Página12.
The video was posted on Twitter by Jonathan Amos, a BBC Science journalist. You can see some large fissures on the surface of the iceberg and the sea around the iceberg is full of pieces that have broken off.
The iceberg broke away from Antarctica in 2017 and it was then estimated that its depth could be 200 meters. This could have varied: the video shows that the cliffs are about 30 meters high.
An ice wall against seals and penguins
British government officials on the islands are watching the movements of the A68a with great interest: whether it will simply drift across the islands or whether it will be trapped on the slopes of South Georgia Island, as the British call that island.
This latter scenario has significant implications for the millions of seals, penguins, and other seabirds that have made South Georgia their home. A large obstacle off the coast could make it difficult for some of these animals to find fish and krill.
There was already a precedent in 2004, when another gigantic iceberg reached the coast. On that occasion, countless dead penguin chicks and baby seals littered the beaches of South Georgia.
“We are now entering the key part of the year for farming,” Mark Belchier, director of fisheries and environment for the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, told the BBC.
Now we have VIDEO of that Royal Air Force reconnaissance flight over #iceberg # A68a. There are some powerful fissures and the sea around the iceberg is full of chunks and shaking. Watch out, South Georgia! 🦭🐧 Read more: https://t.co/0hJP5fDdJ5 pic.twitter.com/MOWUWMuwZg
– Jonathan Amos (@BBCAmos) December 8, 2020
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