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A reconnaissance plane of the RAF (United Kingdom Air Force) has filmed from the air the gigantic iceberg A68a, a floating ice raft similar in size to the Madrid metropolitan area.
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A68a, currently 4,200 square kilometers, has been traversing the so-called “iceberg alley” since it was released from Antarctica in mid-2017. It is now only 150 kilometers off the coast of South Georgia Island.
In the images, posted on his Twitter account by Jonathan Amos, a journalist specializing in BBC Science, you can see some large fissures on the surface of the iceberg and the sea around the iceberg is full of pieces detached from the iceberg.
Local government officials are watching with keen interest what the A68a will do next: whether it will simply drift across the island, or whether it will get caught in the shallows and get trapped.
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This latter scenario has significant implications for the millions of seals, penguins, and other seabirds that have made South Georgia your home. A large obstacle off the coast could make it difficult for some of these animals to find fish and krill.
When a former Antarctic ice giant did this in 2003/4, 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.
Another concern, particularly given the irregular status of A68a, is the danger it poses to maritime navigation in the area. The relentless action of the waves is breaking countless little fragments. Some are important items in their own right and will need to be followed up in the future.See the video of the iceberg here:
Fortunately, there is not much boat traffic in South Georgia at the moment. The Covid-19 crisis means that the 80 cruise ships that normally visit each year are absent; and the krill and local hake fisheries will not open for several months, so no fishing vessels need to be in the immediate area.
Three years ago, when A68a broke off the Larsen C ice shelf, the iceberg’s keel was measured to reach a depth of 200 meters. This may have changed. The cliffs seen in the RAF video are about 30 meters high.
The cameraman was Corporal Phil Dye. The RAF conducted reconnaissance flights over the iceberg on November 18 and December 5.
Europa Press
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