A trillion-tonne iceberg 33 times the size of Paris is making its relentless way towards the remote overseas British territory of South Georgia.
The world’s largest iceberg, which split off from an Antarctic ice shelf 38 years ago before becoming stuck in an oceanic vortex, is now on a potential collision course with the sparsely inhabited island – and threatening to disrupt the lives of millions of penguins and seals that call it home.
“South Georgia is an amazingly ecologically rich island,” oceanographer Andrew Meijers said. “It’s a breeding ground for millions of penguins and seals. If this iceberg parks there, it will potentially block pathways to their food … which unfortunately can dramatically increase mortality rates.”
Although the movement of megabergs and ice sheets across the world’s oceans is a natural phenomenon, researchers say that climate change has dramatically increased the rate of ice loss from the Antarctic continent.
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