World's Largest Iceberg Has Broken Free And Is On The Move

Saturday, December 21, 2024

With a surface area more than twice that of Greater London's, A23a is the biggest iceberg on the planet, having calved from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 1986. The frozen leviathan is now on the move across Antarctica seas once more having spent the last few months going round in circles.

Posted by LampLighter at 12:31 AM | 3 COMMENTS | permalink

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... Its first few decades of freedom were anticlimactic, sitting anchored on the sea floor until finally in 2020 it began inching towards the Southern Ocean, only to become trapped by a swirling vortex of water earlier this year.

These particular ocean vortexes are known as Taylor columns, caused by the presence of underwater mountains. The circulating currents that result can make it difficult for icebergs to break free, but A23a has done just that.

Having escaped the Taylor column, the trillion-ton A23a can progress to the next stage of a journey, which scientists are continuing to closely monitor. ...

Late last year the mega-iceberg got on the move again, tracked by the ESA Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite. Around the same time, scientists were able to take a closer look at A23a, taking samples of the surrounding waters.

We know that icebergs can make a huge difference to the levels of carbon and nutrients in the water as they melt, which in turn affects food chains and aquatic life under the waves.

"We are interested to see if it will take the same route the other large icebergs that have calved off Antarctica have taken," says Meijers. "And more importantly what impact this will have on the local ecosystem."

The team predicts ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-12-21 12:34 AM

@#1 ... tracked by the ESA ...

Aside, then there's the ESO is way cool ...

ESA - Eurpoean Space Agency.

ESO - European Space Observatory.

ESOcast 50: Chile Chill 1 (9 minutes)
www.eso.org

... This episode of the ESOcast introduces a new type of ESOcasts called "Chile Chill".

These ESOcasts offer a calm experience of the Chilean night sky and ESO's observatory sites, undisturbed by facts or narration. In this episode we follow a typical night of observing for ESO's telescopes. ...

Yeah, put that video on full-screen mode and sit back, mellow out and observe all we do not know ...

There's this ...

Southeastern U.S. Seas Are Rising at Triple the Global Average (2023)
www.scientificamerican.com

... Sea levels off the southeastern U.S. have risen more than a centimeter a year over the past decade -- about triple the global average -- and the effects on communities near the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean already are being observed ...

--- and this ---

Miami Beach is Raising Streets by 2 Feet to Combat Rising Seas
www.miamirealestateguy.com

... The City of Miami Beach is raising streets in an effort to protect the city from the impending sea level rise. We all know that the Sunset Harbour and West Avenue neighborhoods of Miami Beach have been BURIED by construction over the past couple of years, but this new project all but guarantees that construction will continue for the time being.

In all honesty, the construction is welcome, considering that we are all well aware that every year, we are seeing our streets flooded with more and more water. The West Avenue and Sunset Harbour areas are consistently underwater due to sea level rise, and raising them is one major aspect of the City's solution. ...