Monster iceberg set for collision with Antarctic wildlife habitats

THE world’s biggest iceberg i s on course to hit the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia, threatening the Antarctic island’s penguin and seal populations.

The A68a iceberg, the size of Somerset, broke off from the Larsen- C ice shelf in 2017 and drifted north on a direct path to South Georgia, where it could ground for 10 years.

Such an event could be catastrophic for the king penguins and elephant and fur seals that use the island as a breeding ground.

Prof Geraint Tarling, an ecologist for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), said: “The distance they have to travel to find food really matters. If they have to do a big detour it means they’re not going to get back to their young in time to prevent them starving to death.”

The area around South Georgia is a known dumping ground for runaway Antarctic icebergs, but the size of A68a threatens to devastate the local wildlife.

The iceberg was around 2,300 sq miles when it originally broke free in 2017, before a smaller section, known as A68b, broke off about two years ago.

By July, A68a had travelled more than 620 miles over three years, without losing any more of its mass.

“A68a is spectacular,” said Andrew Fleming, the BAS’S remote sensing manager. “The idea that it is still in one large piece is actually remarkable, given the huge fractures you see running through it in the radar imagery. I’d fully expected it to have broken apart by now.”

Scientists are divided as to whether the fracturing of A68 from the ice shelf was part of the natural trajectory, or the result of climate change.

Prof Tarling said that despite the threat to local wildlife on South Georgia, the i ceberg – which roughly matches the island for size – did have a positive role to play in the open ocean. “It carries enormous quantities of dust that fertilise the ocean plankton in the water that cascades up the food chain,” he said.

“This plankton also draws in carbon from the atmosphere, partially offsetting human CO2 emissions.”

However, the BAS said it was possible that the iceberg would simply bypass South Georgia and continue its path north.

Dr Peter Fretwell, a mapping speciali st at the BAS, said: “The currents should take it on a loop around the south end of South Georgia, before spinning along the continental shelf and back northwest. It’s very difficult to say precisely what will happen.”

Should it do so, it is likely to break up once it hits warmer and choppier waters.

‘If they have to do a big detour, it means they’re not going to get back to their young in time to prevent them starving to death’