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The UK Department of Defense (MoD released some images of a huge block of ice in the South Georgia Island area drifting from the A68a iceberg in the South Atlantic on December 23, 2020. The news portal of the BBC reports that waves and warming water are under constant attack. Small blocks are constantly being ripped from a standing iceberg.
For some time, the world’s largest iceberg, the A68a, approached the British-ruled island of South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean and has now reached it, according to images released by the British Department of Defense (MoD) on December 23, 2020.
The broken ice block, similar in size to the island, is about eighteen kilometers long, with an area of about one hundred and forty square kilometers and weighing hundreds of billions of tons.
An iceberg so close to the mainland can have a catastrophic effect on the food supply of the predators that live there. Professor Geraint Tarling, a researcher with the British Antarctic Research Program (BAS) told the BBC online portal. – In the case of penguins and seals, the distance they have to travel to feed is crucial, and an iceberg can prevent the animals from feeding their young properly.
He added that scientists are concerned that this huge iceberg could disrupt this important wildlife reserve. Also, restoring the ecosystem can take a long time.
The British Overseas Territories (BOT) function as the “graveyard” for the largest icebergs in Antarctica.
The A68a iceberg detached from Antarctica in 2017, scientists fear it will sink into shallow coastal waters and threaten the area’s rich wildlife.
As previously reported, a team led by the British Antarctic Research Program (BAS) is approaching the iceberg in the South Atlantic on a James Cook research ship to study the 3,900-square-kilometer ice giant. Experts use underwater robotic instruments and sampling tools to study how ice mass affects the environment.
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