One of the biggest icebergs in the world, the A68, is on the move. Since it calved, Antarctica’s Larson C ice shelf two years ago, the iceberg has rotated 270 degrees and drifted 155 miles north, as the ocean is currently known as the Weddell Gyre.
Over the Last Year, The World’s Sist-Largest Eisberg Das Begun to Spin and Triprate at the Assisted Bus.
Satellite records suggest the A68 is the sixth-largest iceberg currently floating in Earth’s oceans. It is roughly the size of Maryland or four times the size of the city of London, and its volume is twice that of Lake Erie. The iceberg weighs more than 1 trillion metric tons.
More than a year later it was initially calved, the A68 staying mostly motionless, the Bawden Ice Rise on the ground, and the Larsen ice shelf on the edge near a shallow seabed. Last fall, the iceberg began to disengage from the seafloor, spin and drift. Over the last year, the A68 has begun to move to an accelerated pace.
When it first splits, scientists expect the iceberg to break apart and disintegrate, but it has mostly remained intact. Its resilience is surprising, given its relative slim shape. Almost 100 miles in length, the iceberg’s ice measures less than 2,000 feet at its thickest point.
Iceberg calving is a natural phenomenon. As inland glaciers supply coastal ice shelves with new ice, older ice is pushed out to sea. But a growing body of evidence suggests that rising water and air temperatures coincide with triggering instabilities in Antarctica and Greenland, accelerating melting and increasing iceberg calving.
reference:-
Accu Weather