World’s Largest Iceberg Runs Aground

The world's biggest iceberg has run aground after fears it could crash into a critical penguin habitat.

C​atalogued as A32a, scientists have been tracking the 'megaberg' via satellite data from NOAA. In January, it appeared headed toward South Georgia Island, which is uninhabited by humans but home to massive numbers of penguins and seals.

“It will be interesting to see what will happen now," Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at British Antarctic Survey, said in a news release. "From a scientific perspective we are keen to see how the iceberg will affect the local ecosystem."

There are some worries the iceberg could disrupt penguin feeding areas, but scientists say the impact isn't expected to be catastrophic. In fact, it could be beneficial.

"Nutrients stirred up by the grounding and from its melt may boost food availability for the whole regional ecosystem, including for charismatic penguins and seals," Meijers said.

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T​he very remote South Georgia Island is in the Southern Ocean, about 800 miles southeast of the Falkland Islands. The iceberg is stuck about 55 miles offshore.

T​he trillion-ton slab of ice is about the size of Rhode Island, and had been drifting since 2020. It picked up steam when it entered more open water in the Southern Ocean.

“In late 2023, I was on the research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough as it sailed along A23a, taking almost the whole day," Meijers said. "It looks like (a) towering wall emerging from the ocean, stretching from horizon to horizon. Some portions were quite pitted and undercut by the action of waves and melt.”

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B​efore its most recent journey, the iceberg was stuck at sea for more than 30 years after breaking off Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986.

S​cientists aren't sure if it will ever move again.

“Now it’s grounded, it is even more likely to break up due to the increased stresses, but this is practically impossible to predict," Meijers said. "Large bergs have made it a long way north before – one got within 1000km (about 65 miles) of Perth Australia once – but they all inevitably break up and melt quickly after.”

I​cebergs are part of the natural life cycle of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. But research shows ice sheet melting is occurring more rapidly due to climate change.

"This loss of ice shelf mass has significant implications for ocean circulation due to the addition of freshwater, acceleration of sea level rise (due to a loss of buttressing of continental ice and faster consequent flow into the ocean), and possible irreversible ‘tipping points’, particularly in the vulnerable west Antarctic," Meijers said.