The world's largest iceberg is not transferring, it’s rotating on itself | EUROtoday
LThe world's largest iceberg, named A23a, has stopped transferring within the Southern Ocean, the BBC reported on Saturday, August 3. This block of ice, which presently measures practically 4,000 sq. meters, or greater than forty instances the dimensions of Paris, ought to nonetheless comply with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which is probably the most highly effective on this planet. According to scientists, if the iceberg stays in the identical place, it’s as a result of it’s blocked by a phenomenon known as the Taylor Column, one other present forcing it to activate itself.
He “refuse to die »
“We normally consider icebergs as transient issues; they break up and soften. But not this one,” says Professor Mark Brandon, an oceanographer and polar researcher. Currently, A23a is rotating 15 degrees per day in an anti-clockwise direction. “A23a is the iceberg that simply refuses to die,” the Open University researcher told BBC News. This is because it is slowing down its erosion and therefore its demise. Mike Meredith, a professor at the British Antarctic Survey, said he dropped a buoy into Taylor Column to study its movement. After four years, the buoy was still in place, suggesting that the iceberg could remain there and ” to spin the highest » for a number of years in line with scientists.
A23a broke away from the coast of Antarctica within the Nineteen Eighties. It then lay dormant within the shallows of the ocean for practically 30 years, earlier than starting a drift in 2023 in direction of hotter waters through the ” iceberg corridor “. “It is more likely that her time has come,” Andrew Fleming of the British Antarctic Survey stated on the time. “The Titanic would have had time to see her coming,” he stated.
If it have been to maneuver once more, it may find yourself in shallower waters. “If this is the case, there is a fear of an impact on local wildlife, particularly on the penguin populations that live there, which would be forced to travel enormous distances to access their fishing grounds and feed. Such detours could simply put their lives in danger.” “, particulars the Glaciologist Heïdi Sevestre, member of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (Amap), interviewed by The mountain.
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/le-plus-grand-iceberg-du-monde-ne-se-deplace-plus-il-tourne-sur-lui-meme-04-08-2024-2567160_24.php