Experts issue 'catastrophe' warning as world's largest iceberg becomes visible from space
Researchers from the Australian National University predict A23a will cause chaos for generations to come
An iceberg visible from space has prompted experts to issue a terrifying warning to the public.
The world’s largest glacial mass, named A23a, has been seen drifting across the Antarctic Ocean and is approximately the size of a Hawaiian island.
The iceberg, which is taller than London’s Shard building (310m), has been experiencing rapid deterioration, with scientists able to see pools of water on the ice’s surface.
The melting of the iceberg is set to show catastrophic changes to the Antarctic, as the pools of water predict that the ice is melting in the area at a far quicker pace than anticipated.
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A23a currently runs 1,400 square miles, or around the size of Los Angeles.
However, it has shrunk since it broke away from Antarctica in 1986, with many sections of ice falling away and sinking into the ocean in recent months.
"The potential for abrupt changes is far less understood in the Antarctic compared with the Arctic, but evidence is emerging for rapid, interacting and sometimes self-perpetuating changes in the Antarctic environment," researchers from the Australian National University said in their Nature study report.
Professor Nerilie Abram, the lead author, warned that if A23a was to collapse, it would mean ‘catastrophic consequences for generations to come.’
She said in the study: "Rapid change has already been detected across Antarctica's ice, oceans and ecosystems, and this is set to worsen with every fraction of a degree of global warming."
The British Antarctic Survey team believes that A23a will have arrived at the continental shelf of South Georgia within the next month, an area which is half the size of the iceberg.
The team say it will create a sizeable impact, particularly on the island’s penguin habitat.
“An iceberg grounding close to South Georgia could result in them having to make large diversions to their feeding grounds and not getting back to their young in time,” Professor Geraint Tarling, science leader of the ecosystems team at the British Antarctic Survey, said to Oceanographic Magazine.
Dr Andrew Meijers, a physical oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, explained exactly why the iceberg is collapsing - and what it means for the future.
He said, as per the Daily Express US: "The iceberg A23a is now moving with the prevailing current towards the island of South Georgia, after having been 'trapped' spinning around a submarine mountain for several months further south.
"The iceberg, at least in satellite images, appears to be maintaining its structure and has not yet broken up into smaller chunks, as previous 'megabergs' have done.”
He added: "It is presently in a meander of the current and not moving directly towards the island, but our understanding of the currents suggest that it is likely to again move towards the island soon. The current follows the shallow continental shelf around the island to the south east.
"But the question is whether the berg will follow this out into the open South Atlantic, or run up onto the shelf and become stuck for some time. If this happens it could seriously impede access to feeding grounds for the wildlife - seals and penguins mostly - that breed on the island."
Topics: Climate Change, Environment, World News, Science
Britt Jones