The colossus known as A23a has been rotating in the Southern Ocean for months, as satellite images show. The iceberg may not be able to escape the so-called Taylor Column for years, according to the British broadcaster BBC, citing experts.
However, this also prevents the colossus from reaching warmer climes carried by ocean currents and melting more quickly. “A23a is the iceberg that simply refuses to die,” the BBC quotes polar expert Mark Brandon from the Open University as saying.
A23a broke away from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 1986, but remained stuck to the sea floor for decades. After breaking away in 2000, it temporarily made a kind of spurt – only to now remain in one place again.
24 days for one round
Near the South Orkney Islands northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, it rotates about 15 degrees anti-clockwise every day, as the British Antarctic Survey reported on Platform X. A23a therefore needs 24 days to complete one round.
The iceberg is around 4,000 square kilometers in size, around 4.5 times the size of Berlin. Waves and weather have now carved huge arches and cave-like depressions into the colossus, as images taken by a ship belonging to the company Eyos Expeditions in mid-January show.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), icebergs from the so-called Weddell sector usually end up in the South Atlantic and melt away.
