The giant iceberg A23A, created when it was detached from Antarctica 39 years ago and at some point was the largest in the world. Now, it is melting as it moves to warmer waters …
At the beginning of the year, this huge piece of ice weighed about 1 trillion tonnes and had an area of 4,000 square kilometers. The iceberg that is, 50% larger than the surface of Luxembourg.
However, as it is heading north, in areas not as cold as the southern ocean that plagues Antarctica, large parts of it have detached. Today only 1,770 square kilometers reaches, according to the analysis of the French agency in satellite images taken by the European Copernicus service.
“I would say that it is really heading towards the end (..) It is, very simply, in the process of disintegration. Water is too hot to survive. Melts steadily »explained by oceanologist Andrew Meezers of the UK Antarctic Research Institute. “I expect this to continue in the coming weeks and I predict that it will become unrecognizable in a few weeks,” he added.
The A23A was detached from Antarctica in 1986 and ended up in the Weden Sea, where it remained stabilized at the bottom of the ocean for three decades. In 2020 he resumed his course, as a drifting, like other icebergs, from the powerful Antarctic, patrol stream. He re -agreed in March this year, a short distance from southern Georgia, a British island in the South Atlantic. Scientists were afraid that it would threaten the survival of penguins and sea elephants on the island.
Eventually, he detached the island and developed speed, pushed by powerful waves and the less cold waters of this ocean.
The scientists were “taken aback” that survived for so long. “Most icebergs don’t travel so far,” they are “doomed” as soon as they leave the guerrilla climate, Majers explained.
Like others, I watched with amazement the television footage in March of the #A23A #iceberg as it approached #SouthGeorgia. Was incredible to see it up close this week. Truly awe inspiring. https://t.co/HdcrcffJT5
— Colin Martin-Reynolds CMG (@Colin_M_R) August 29, 2025
The formation of icebergs is a natural process but scientists estimate that their production rate has intensified, probably due to climate change due to human activity.