The world’s largest iceberg, after being stuck on the ocean floor for well over 4 decades, is on the move.
A huge iceberg named A23a broke off from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica in 1986.
A23a is currently the world’s largest iceberg, covering about 4000 square kilometers (more than four times the size of New York City) and is around 400 meters thick.
At first, it got stuck, but by 2020, it started floating in the Weddell Sea. Normally, icebergs get stuck and then eventually become unstuck and float.
Recently A23a has picked up speed and is quickly moving away from Antarctica. This change is visible in an animation created using Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite images from November 2, 14, and 26, 2023.
A23a, like other icebergs from the Weddell area, is expected to end up in the South Atlantic, following a route known as iceberg alley.
Images showing how the A23a iceberg traveled between 2 November 2023 (blue) and 26 November 2023 (red). Credit: ESA
