Photo: NASA

One of the World’s Biggest Icebergs Is on a Collision Course With an Island

News
by Eben Diskin Nov 5, 2020

A giant iceberg that is roughly 80 times the size of Manhattan looks like it might collide with a South Atlantic island in possibly as little time as three to four weeks.

The A68a iceberg broke off from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf in July 2017, and now threatens to collide with the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia. And given the size of the iceberg, it could remain stuck on the island’s shore for years.

The 1,815-square-mile iceberg is larger than South Georgia itself, and is on course to hit the island’s shores and seriously disrupt the area’s ecosystem. Professor Geraint Tarling, senior biological oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, told CNN that the iceberg collision could be extremely detrimental to the island’s wildlife population, especially seals and penguins as they would not be able to access their usual feeding grounds.

The iceberg is currently less than 300 miles away from South Georgia Island and is moving 0.62 miles per hour.

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