Once Rhode Island’s largest iceberg has lost about 80% of its mass since May, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) report.
The “Megaburg,” known as the A23A, is rapidly collapsed as it is trapped in current currents around South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic.
The A23A was swept into the current flow in May after spending several months on the continental shelf just off Southern Georgia Island. “We are following a powerful present jet known as the Antarctic Extreme Current Front (SACCF),” Majors said, adding that the iceberg will be leaving the island northeasterly before splitting it completely.
The A23a, known as the “Queen of the Iceberg,” broke the ice shelf of Filchner Ronne in Antarctica (adjacent to the Weddell Sea) in 1986. The giant Berg quickly ran aground and continued to thrust into the seabed of the Weddell Sea for over 30 years. It crowns the world’s largest iceberg, including the 2017-2020 iceberg A68 and the 2021 Iceberg A76, and has temporarily surpassed others over the years.
The A23a finally moved in 2020, probably because the ice that fixed it to the seabed had melted. However, the iceberg was soon trapped again. This time, we’re in a rotating vortex called a Taylor column, caused by an underwater mountain. It was released in December 2024 and was reported to be in barrel range towards South Georgia Island in January.
In January, the A23A weighed approximately 1.1 trillion tons (1 trillion tons) and measured 1,418 square miles (3,672 square kilometers). Currently, Megaberg is not that much of a mega, measuring 656 square miles (1,700 square km), or about a fifth of the size just eight months ago.
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“The icebergs quickly disbanded, stripping away very large chunks and designating a large iceberg from the U.S. National Ice Center, which tracks these things themselves,” Majors said.
The A68 and A76 began to collapse as they drifted near South Georgia. SACCF suggests that they blame the iceberg for disbanding.
The A23A has abandoned the world’s largest iceberg title to Iceberg D15A, now near the Davis Institute in Australia in Antarctica. The D15a measures approximately 1,160 square miles (3,000 square km) and appears to remain in place, Meijers said.
For now, the A23A is the second largest iceberg in the world, but will quickly drop ranks as it continues to collapse over the next few weeks, he said. Ultimately, fragments of A23A become so small that scientists will stop monitoring them, and the onset of Southern Spring is likely to contribute to the melting of miniburg, Meiers added.
Large icebergs could end up in the waters off the coast of South Georgia in the future more frequently due to climate change, a BAS spokesperson told CNN. At this point, there is not enough data to show whether more megabergs are or will form as a result of global warming, but the number of icebergs is increasing from Antarctica, Meijers said.
Antarctica is extremely vulnerable to global warming, and scientists are seeing dramatic changes in the natural cycle of the already frozen continent.
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