"It's been a long and unusual journey for the world's largest iceberg, known as A23a, but it's ending in a relatively usual way: breaking apart and melting in the warmer waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, just like icebergs have done for millions of years before. The iceberg which at one time was around the same size as the Hawaiian island of Oahu is "rapidly breaking up" into several "very large chunks," according to scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), which has been tracking its movements."
"A23a has been closely tracked by scientists ever since it broke off, or calved, from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in Antarctica in 1986. It's had the title of "largest iceberg" several times since then sometimes overtaken by larger but shorter-lived icebergs, but regaining it when those broke apart. It's also the oldest current iceberg, having managed to slow its natural demise by getting stuck not once, but twice, after calving from its parent-berg, meaning it managed to hang out in colder waters for longer than most."
A23a calved from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in Antarctica in 1986 and has been tracked since. The berg has claimed the title of largest iceberg multiple times and became the oldest current iceberg by getting stuck twice, which slowed its melting. At nearly 40 years old it is now rapidly breaking into very large chunks and has shrunk to about 1,700 square kilometers (656 square miles), roughly the size of Greater London. The berg has drifted far north into warmer South Atlantic waters where icebergs of this size cannot survive, and the breakup aligns with the normal iceberg life cycle rather than an obvious climate-change signal.
Read at www.npr.org
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