Satellite images show the colossus, known as A23a, orbiting in the Southern Ocean for months. Pole expert Mark Brandon comments: “He refuses to die.”
The world’s largest glacier may now be caught in a giant whirlpool. As satellite images show, the colossus, known as A23a, has been circling the Southern Ocean for months. According to the British broadcaster BBC, citing experts, the glacier may not survive the Taylor passage for years. However, it is prevented by ocean currents from reaching warmer climates and melting faster. “A23a is a glacier that simply refuses to die,” the BBC reported, citing Mark Brandon, a polar expert at the Open University.
A23a broke off from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 1986, but remained attached to the seafloor for decades. After the breakup in 2000, she temporarily built a kind of momentum — again only in one place.
15 degree rotation daily
Near the South Orkney Islands, northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, it rotates about 15 degrees counterclockwise each day, the British Antarctic Survey polar research institute Platform X reported. So A23a takes 24 days to complete one circuit.
The glacier measures 4,000 square kilometers, 4.5 times the size of Berlin. Meanwhile, waves and weather have carved large arches and cave-like craters into the Colossus, photos from a ship owned by Eyos Expeditions in mid-January show.
According to the European Space Agency (ESA), glaciers in the so-called Weddell sector typically reach the South Atlantic and melt. (APA/dpa)
