The iceberg is slightly bigger than Rhode Island.
The world's largest iceberg is on the move again, drifting through the Southern Ocean after months stuck spinning on the same spot, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey have said.
It remained grounded on the Antarctic's Weddell Sea floor for more than 30 years, probably until it shrank just enough to loosen its grip on the seafloor.Then, the iceberg was carried away by ocean currents before it became stuck again in a Taylor column – the name given to a spinning vortex of water caused by ocean currents hitting an underwater mountain.
A23a has held the "largest current iceberg" title several times since the 1980s, occasionally being surpassed by larger but shorter-lived icebergs, including A68 in 2017 and A76 in 2021.
"We know that these giant icebergs can provide nutrients to the waters they pass through, creating thriving ecosystems in otherwise less productive areas," Laura Taylor, a biogeochemist who collected samples from the water around the iceberg, said in the BAS statement.
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