Should it disintegrate, the segments could float around South Georgia uncontrollably for years, putting the territory’s king penguins as well as elephant and fur seals in danger.
The vast penguin population of South Georgia would be put at risk by the iceberg.Credit: Gabrielle Costa
In 2004, an iceberg called A38 grounded on the continental shelf to the north-east of South Georgia, devastating the penguin and seal populations by preventing them from using their foraging routes.
“South Georgia sits in ‘iceberg alley’, so impacts are to be expected for both fisheries and wildlife, and both have a great capacity to adapt,” Mark Belchier, a marine ecologist who advises the South Georgia government, told the BBC.
A team with the British Antarctic Survey aboard the Sir David Attenborough research vessel investigated A23a in 2023, sailing into a crack and collecting water samples.
Dr Andrew Meijers, chief scientist on the vessel, said: “It is amazing to see this huge berg in person – it stretches as far as the eye can see.”
Laura Taylor, a biogeochemist who also took part in the mission, said in December 2024: “We know that these giant icebergs can provide nutrients to the waters they pass through, creating thriving ecosystems in otherwise less-productive areas.”
She added: “We took samples of ocean surface waters behind, immediately adjacent to and ahead of the iceberg’s route. They should help us determine what life could form around A23a.”
Telegraph, London
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