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Title: World's Biggest Iceberg Breaks Up After 40 Years

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/09/03/0202...

The world's largest iceberg is now breaking apart rapidly in warmer waters
after nearly 40 years adrift. "Earlier this year, the 'megaberg' known as
A23a weighed a little under a trillion tons and was more than twice the size
of Greater London," reports The Guardian. "It is now less than half its
original size, but still a hefty 1,770 sq km (683 sq miles) and 60km (37
miles) at its widest point..." Scientists expect it to completely
disintegrate within weeks. From the report: A23a calved from the Antarctic
shelf in 1986 but quickly grounded in the Weddell Sea, remaining stuck on the
ocean floor for over 30 years. It finally escaped in 2020 and, like other
giants before it, was carried along "iceberg alley" into the South Atlantic
Ocean by the powerful Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Around March, it ran
aground in shallow waters off distant South Georgia island, raising fears it
could disrupt large colonies of adult penguins and seals there from feeding
their young. But it dislodged in late May, and moved on. [...] Iceberg
calving is a natural process. But scientists say the rate at which they were
being lost from Antarctica is increasing, probably because of human induced
climate change.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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