Iceberg ‘the size of London’ breaks away in Antarctica

Researchers have confirmed that two icebergs have broken away from Antarctica, with one being “the size of London”. The icebergs are drifting towards areas where they could affect fishing and wildlife.

According to experts, these ice blocks could take decades to melt.

Iceberg A81 is as large as Greater London, but iceberg A76a is even bigger at over 3000 kilometres.

“It was directly in our path as we sailed home so we took 24 hours out to go around it,” biological oceanographer Professor Geraint Tarling told BBC News.

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“We got in quite close in some places, and had a really good view of it. We collected water from around the berg using special non-contaminated pipes under the ship, so we’ve got lots of samples to study.”

A76a originated far to the south of its present position, coming from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in May 2021. There are worries about the iceberg possibly swinging east towards South Georgia and get stuck in the shallow waters of its continental shelf. If this happens, it would disrupt both people and wildlife.

“If it does become grounded, our major concern is break-up and the impact of (smaller) icebergs on vessel movements in the area,” explained Dr Mark Belchier, the director of fisheries.

“Although the tourist season is coming to an end, our fisheries operate during the winter months so it may impact on their operations. It does have the potential to cause localised issues for some of our wildlife, although that’s likely to be less of an issue if it breaks up over winter when most animals can forage over greater distances and don’t have to keep returning to land to feed young – or have moved away from the island completely.”

A81 broke away from the Brunt Ice Shelf in January.

The visible cliffs on these icebergs rise above the waterline by tens of metres, which means the ice extends down from the water surface by hundreds of metres.

The biggest icebergs can weigh a trillion tonnes.