The world’s largest iceberg threatens an Argentinian island – News

the Antarctic ice giant It is similar in size to the island in the South Atlantic and there is a good chance it was washed up off the coast, considered a wildlife refuge.

If this happens, poses a serious threat to local seals and penguins. The animals’ normal feeding routes could be blocked, preventing them from properly feeding their young.

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“Ecosystems can and will recover, of course, but there is a danger that if this iceberg gets stuck, it could stay there for 10 years“he said to BBC Professor Geraint Tarling from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

South Georgia is sort of a graveyard for Antarctica’s largest icebergs. A68a ruptured in mid-2017 and is now only a few hundred kilometers southwest of the island.

This iceberg weighs hundreds of billions of tons. But its relative thinness (a submerged depth of perhaps 200 meters or less) means it has the potential to drift towards the coast of South Georgia before being trapped on the seabed.

“When you talk about the penguins and the seals during the time that is really crucial for them, during the rearing of the young and the chicks, the actual distance they have to travel to find food (fish and krill) really matters” , Tarling explained.

Although satellite images suggest the A68a is on a direct route to South Georgia, it could still escape capture.

“The currents should take it in what looks like a strange loop around the southern tip of South Georgia, before spinning it along the edge of the continental shelf and retreat to the northwest“said Dr Peter Fretwell, BAS mapping and remote sensing specialist.

“If you go around South Georgia and head north it should start to crumble. It will reach warmer waters very quickly and the wave action in particular will start to wash it out, ”said colleague Andrew Fleming.