The largest iceberg in the world could be collided with the island of Penguin Antarctic: “Game of Thrones-Esque” Blogging Sole

THE The biggest iceberg in the world – Three times the size of New York – could derive to an isolated island where a scientist warns that he may disrupt food for baby penguins and seals.

The gigantic wall of ice moves slowly of Antarctica On a potential collision course with southern Georgia, a Land of raw fauna breeding in the South Atlantic.

Satellite imagery suggested that, unlike the previous “megabergs”, this thug does not collapse in small pieces while it was crossing the South Ocean, AFP Andrew Meijers, a physical oceanographer on Friday, a physical oceanographer on Friday The British Antarctic Survey.

He said the forecast of his exact course was difficult, but the dominant currents suggested that the Colossus would reach the shallow continental plateau in the south of Georgia in two to four weeks.

But what could happen next is someone’s assumption, he said.

It could avoid the plateau and be transported in free water beyond southern Georgia, a British territory abroad to around 870 miles east of the Falkland Islands.

Or it could hit the bottom sloping and get stuck for months or separate into pieces.

Meijers said that this scenario could seriously hinder seals and penguins trying to feed and raise their young people on the island. THE Island hosts 1.3 million pairs of Chinstrap penguins – one of the largest colonies in the world – around 5 million seals and 65 million breeding birds.

“The icebergs have anchored it in the past and it has caused significant mortality to penguin chicks and puppies,” he said.

About 1,550 square miles, the largest and oldest iceberg in the world, known as A23APressed with the Antarctic shelf in 1986. Before its calving in 1986, the colossal iceberg hosted a Soviet research station. FALLEY

He remained stuck for more than 30 years before finally freeing himself in 2020, his trip from the exercise to the north is sometimes delayed by the ocean forces which kept it in place. In 2023, the British Antarctic Survey published a Laps of time of satellite imagingshowing the movement of the iceberg.

Iceberg “Game of Thrones-Esque”

Meijers – who met the iceberg face to face while leading a scientific mission at the end of 2023 – described “a huge white cliff, 40 or 50 meters high, which extends from the horizon to the horizon”.

“It’s like this white wall. It is very a kind of Game of Thrones-Esque, in fact, “he said, referring to the Dark Fantasy series.

The A23A has followed almost the same path as the previous massive icebergs, passing the east side of the Antarctic Peninsula through the Weddell Sea along a route called “Alley of Iceberg”. It is the same water current as the famous explorer Ernest Shackleton used in 1916 to escape the exhaust of Antarctica after losing its ship, endurance. The legendary shipwreck was discovered Off the coast of Antarctica in 2022.

Weighing a little less than a tonnes billion, this monster block of fresh water was taken by the more powerful ocean “jet stream” in the world – the circumpolar current of the Antarctic.

Raul Cordero of the University of Chile of Santiago, which is also part of the National Research Committee in Antarctic, said that it was convinced that the iceberg would bypass southern Georgia.

“The island acts as an obstacle to ocean currents and therefore generally diverts water well before reaching the island,” he said.

“The iceberg is moved by this flow of water, so the chances of hitting are not so high”, although pieces could, he said.

Another scientist, the glaciologist Soledad Tiranti currently on an Argentinian exploration trip to Antarctica, said that icebergs such as A23A “are so deep that before reaching an island or a continent, they are generally trapped” seabed.

It is summer in southern Georgia and resident penguins and seals along its southern coast feed in freezing waters to bring food to young people.

“If the iceberg throws itself there, it will block physically where they will feed, or they will have to get around it,” said Meijers.

“It burns an enormous amount of additional energy for them, so it’s less energy for puppies and chicks, which causes increased mortality.”

The populations of seal and penguin on southern Georgia have already had a “bad season” with an epidemic of bird flu “and that (iceberg) would get a lot,” he said.

As A23A has finally melted, it could sow water with nutrients that encourage the growth of phytoplankton, the diet of whales and other species, and allowing scientists to study how such flowers absorb carbon dioxide the atmosphere.

Although the icebergs are natural phenomena, Meijers said that the rhythm to which they were lost in Antarctica increased, probably due to climate change induced by humans.

In January 2023, a massive piece of the Antarctic Ice Platform – a Chunk in the size of two cities in New York – Listed. The ice platform is found through the Weddell Sea from the Larsen C ice plateau site on the Antarctic Peninsula. In 2022, the Larsen C ice platform – which was about the size of New York and has long been considered stable – collapsed in the sea.