Antarctic iceberg A-68A has drifted menacingly close to a remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
Antarctic iceberg A-68A has drifted menacingly close to South Georgia, a remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. Scientists around the world are watching to see what the berg will do next.
The concern is that the iceberg has approached the edge of the island’s submarine shelf—an area where waters become relatively shallow, measuring less than 200 meters deep. Scientists think the iceberg extends about that far below the water line, meaning it has the potential to snag the seafloor and become “grounded.” Biologists worry about the potential effect a grounded iceberg could have on the island’s wildlife, such as the ability for penguins to access food.
When we last showed A-68A on November 5, 2020, the enormous block of ice floated about 500 kilometers offshore. Five weeks later, the berg was poised less than 100 kilometers offshore as the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this natural-color image (above) on December 14.
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Image via NASA Earth Observatory
