Huge iceberg breaking up off South Georgia Island is still a threat

What effects on wildlife and the ecosystem the icebergs will have are unknown.

Update: As of today, the A68 iceberg, once the world’s largest, has lost significant chunks of ice and continues to break apart, satellite images show. On December 17, about 69 square miles broke from the iceberg, forming A68d. On December 22, the front, pointed tip of the iceberg broke, producing 68-square-mile A68e and 252-square-mile A68f. Since the iceberg calved from the Larsen C ice shelf three years ago, it has lost two-thirds of its volume. Recent satellite images show that the icebergs are caught in a strong ocean current that seems likely to sweep the chunks of ice around the southern edge of the island and spin them north. It’s unclear whether the remainder of A68 and its siblings will become stuck there and cut South Georgia’s wildlife off from feeding grounds, but the chunks of ice are rapidly releasing freshwater into an ecosystem adapted to saltwater.

What was the largest iceberg on Earth is threatening to come to a halt soon in a pristine Antarctic wildlife sanctuary that’s home to penguins, seals, and a small population of endangered blue whales.

The iceberg, labeled A68, broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf on the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula in 2017. It had been slowly inching north until this year, when an ocean current quickly propelled it into the Southern Atlantic Ocean. (Find out about how climate change is melting the Antarctic Peninsula.)

About 95 miles long and 30 miles wide at its widest point, the iceberg covers an area of roughly 1,500 square miles and extends 500 to 600 feet underwater. Satellite images show it

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