MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A23a iceberg poses no threat to South Georgia, for now

The large ice mass could break up into smaller pieces, which would affect fishing operations in the area

The world's largest iceberg, A23a, has grounded 73 kilometers off South Georgia Island, alleviating concerns about a potential collision that could have disrupted the local wildlife's food supply. The iceberg, weighing nearly one billion tons, has been drifting north from Antarctica since 2020. Its current position reduces risks to the region's penguins and seals.

In addition, the iceberg's grounding may release nutrients that could benefit the local ecosystem, scientists explained while pledging to keep monitoring the ice mass as its future trajectory remains uncertain. The iceberg originally broke off from the Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986 and had been stuck in the Weddell Sea for over 30 years.

With a surface area of 3,360 square kilometers, the iceberg was heading north of Antarctica, towards South Georgia Island, driven since December by powerful ocean currents. It was feared that it could collide or run aground in shallower waters near the island, which could disrupt the food supply to baby penguins and seals.

But since March 1, it has remained stuck 73 kilometers from the island, the British Antarctic Survey said. “If the iceberg remains stranded, we hope it will not significantly affect local wildlife,” Oceanographer Andrew Meijers, who is in charge of monitoring A23a, said.

“In recent decades, the numerous icebergs that followed this route through the Southern Ocean broke up, dispersed, and eventually melted rapidly,” he added.

“However, as the iceberg breaks up into smaller pieces, fishing operations in the region become more difficult or potentially dangerous,” Meijers also pointed out. “Discussions with fishing operators suggest that large icebergs in the past have made some regions more or less inaccessible to fishing operations for some time because of the number of smaller - but often more dangerous - iceberg fragments,” he mentioned.

“The nutrients stirred up by the stranding and its melting may increase food availability for the entire regional ecosystem, including charismatic penguins and seals,” he also noted.

In January, a 19 km chunk broke off. Scientists are unable to determine what consequences this would have on the trajectory and future of this ice giant. In recent decades, large icebergs that have taken this route “soon break up, disperse and melt,” Meijers also noted.

“Now that it is aground, it is even more likely to break up due to increased stresses, but this is virtually impossible to predict,” he said in the statement.

“Large icebergs have come far north before; one came within 1,000 kilometers of Perth, Australia, once, but they all inevitably break up and melt quickly afterwards,” the expert also explained. “It will be interesting to see what happens now.”