Other icebergs have fallen from the large iceberg which …

According to specialists in European Space Agency (ESA)The images collected in recent weeks ensure that the environmental threat posed by the gigantic iceberg A-68A to the Argentine archipelago of San Pedro, a member of the South Atlantic islands, has been completely deactivated.

The iceberg, which has become the largest in the world and threatening the islands, shattered in late December, but experts were still warning at the time of a potential ecological disaster in the absence of precise data.

However, the new images revealed that the iceberg suffered from larger cracks last week and has since shattered into even smaller pieces. “This could signal the end of the A-68A’s environmental threat to South Georgia,” ESA said. by referring to the Argentine island with the name the British have used since their occupation.

The Copernicus satellite system has been monitoring the iceberg’s track closely since 2017, when it broke away from the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Its proximity to the remote island of San Pedro has raised fears that it may anchor itself on the coast and affect the fragile ecosystem that develops around it, by scratching the seabed or by dumping water. cold fresh water in the surrounding ocean.

However, last December the iceberg changed direction as the ocean surface currents diverted it to the southeast, away from the island and thus losing a huge chunk of ice. By the end of 2020, the Iceberg had shattered into several pieces, showing a reduction in half from an initial area of ​​5,664 square kilometers.

New icebergs fallen from the A-68A

The latest data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar mission shows that a new iceberg fell from the A-68A last week., A-68G, What it is about 53 kilometers long and about 18 miles at its widest point.

A new crack caused the detachment of two more blocks of ice, called A-68H (about 20 kilometers long and 9 wide) and A-68I (30 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide at its widest point).

The main iceberg A-68A is now only 60 kilometers long with a maximum width of 22 kilometers. Experts say the cluster of new icebergs “appear to be spreading” in various directions and “are likely to move away from the island,” ceasing to be a threat to the island’s wildlife.

The main concern the iceberg posed for the British-occupied South Atlantic island of Argentina was the potential danger to local seals and penguins, as the animals’ normal feeding routes could be blocked, causing them made it impossible to feed their animals properly.

“Ecosystems can and will recover, of course, but there is a risk that if this iceberg gets stuck, it could stay there for 10 years,” Professor Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS ) at the BBC. . “And that would make a huge difference, not only to South Georgia’s ecosystem, but to its economy as well.”

Originally called A-68, when the iceberg broke off the pack ice it was about twice the size of Luxembourg, but quickly lost a fragment, reducing its size and changing its name to A-68A.