After being stuck on the sea floor near Antarctica for thirty years, ice floe A23a, as the ice shelf is called, is starting to move again. The ice floes, twice the size of the City of London, are now drifting towards the open sea.
Ice floe A23a set off from Antarctica in 1986, but due to the thickness of the ice mass, the floe quickly became stuck on the sea floor. Ice A23a is about 400 meters thick. The ice mass began moving gently in the summer of 2020, but now appears decidedly “loose,” the report wrote. BBC.
According to Andrew Fleming, from the British Antarctic Survey research group, the ice floes have become thinner in recent years, causing them to slowly float again. Ice floe A23a is now floating near the northernmost tip of Antarctica, and will soon end up in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Fleming says there is a possibility that ice floes could drift again off the British island of South Georgia. This means bad news for seals, penguins and other birds in the area. It can complicate the animals’ search for food.
At present, the suspected route of the A23a will not cause any obstruction to shipping. Eventually the ice floes will completely melt and disappear.
1:49It’s loose! Satellite images show the path of the world’s largest ice floe
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