A giant iceberg, heading for the island of South Georgia, is continuing to fracture into smaller pieces, meaning it poses less of a threat to the island’s wildlife and ecosystem.
The Antarctic iceberg, which has been moving towards the island group, has fractured into four parts. Although it is still unclear if the iceberg will collide with the small British territory, researchers are more optimistic about the risk it poses to local wildlife.
“If it does come back into South Georgia, it will probably be in lots of little pieces as opposed to one big berg, which is what we were fearing,” said Geraint Tarling, a biological oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey.
Earlier, researchers worried that iceberg A68a – which at the time was the largest in the world – would grind into South Georgia’s coastal seabed, disturbing the underwater ecosystem and blocking feeding paths for penguins and seals.
However, on 18 December, the iceberg was taken hold of by strong currents. This caused it to split in half and to continue fracturing as it floated away from the island’s south-west coast.
A68a is now estimated to be 2,600 sq km, a dramatic decrease from its previous area of 4,200 sq km, which made it comparable in size to South Georgia.
The size of the iceberg is what initially caught the attention of scientists and researchers when it broke away the Antarctic peninsula in 2017. At the time, it was the fourth largest iceberg ever recorded.
The three smaller icebergs, which have since calved away from A68a, have received their own names: A68d, A68e, and A68f. While the icebergs continue to float eastward, away from the island, Tarling says that there is still a chance that they will “loop around” and arrive at South Georgia’s eastern shelf, depending on the currents.
Researchers who have been tracking A68a’s journey for the past weeks will find out the iceberg’s final trajectory in the next few days, said Tarling.