A68: Iceberg that became a social media star melts away

Washington, Apr 23 (Prensa Latina) The giant A68 iceberg that was for a time the world´s biggest is no longer a threat to South Georgia, where it could cause irreversible damage to local ecosystem, the US National Ice Center reported, while saying that satellites have shown the mega-berg has virtually gone, broken into small fragments.

April 23, 2021
09:13

Weeks earlier, the European Space Agency warned about the danger the billion-ton block could bring about. It calved from the Larson C Ice Shelf on the edge of the Antarctic Peninsula, and for a year it hardly moved. But then it started to drift north with increasing speed, riding on strong currents and winds.

On the other hand, AlertGeo website explained that normal feeding routes of animals could be blocked, preventing them from feeding their young properly. All creatures living in sea would be crushed by the mega-berg upon reaching land, a disturbance that would take long to reverse.

Whether the A68 got stuck in those islands could be there for 10 years, damaging local ecosystem and economy.

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