This is what the world’s largest iceberg has looked like since …

The world’s largest iceberg was filmed from the air by a British Air Force reconnaissance plane. The 4,200 square kilometer mass was named A68a and now lies 150 kilometers offshore San Pedro Island, the archipelago of South Georgia. It is similar in size to the Argentine island occupied by the British in the South Atlantic.

The video was posted on Twitter by Jonathan Amos, a BBC Science reporter. You can see large cracks in 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 estimated that its depth could be 200 meters. It could have varied: the video shows that the cliffs are around 30 meters high.

English government officials on the islands are watching the movements of the A68a with great interest: whether it will simply drift through the islands or if it will be trapped in the banks of South Georgia Island, such as the call the British.

The latter scenario has important implications for the millions of seals, penguins and other seabirds that have made South Georgia their home. A big obstacle off the coast could prevent some of these animals from finding fish and krill.

There was already a precedent in 2004, when another gigantic iceberg washed up on the coast, then countless dead penguin chicks and baby seals littered the beaches of South Georgia. “We are now entering the key time of the year for agriculture,” Mark Belchier, director of fisheries and environment for the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, told the BBC.

Another concern, given the irregular status of the A68a, is the danger it poses to maritime navigation in the region. The incessant action of the waves shatters countless small fragments. Some are important in themselves and will need to be monitored in the future.

Fortunately, there isn’t a lot of shipping traffic in South Georgia at the moment. The Covid-19 crisis has suspended the trips of the 80 cruise ships that normally pass through the region. In addition, the local hake and krill fisheries will not open for several months, so there is no need for vessels to work in the area.