An enormous iceberg is heading towards South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic, where scientists say a collision could devastate wildlife by threatening the food chain. Scientists have long been watching this climate-related event unfold, as the iceberg - the size and shape of Jamaica – has meandered and advanced over two years since breaking off from the Antarctic peninsula in July 2017.
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Iceberg A68a is 4,200 sq km in size and is about the same shape and size as Jamaica. The peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth, registering a record high temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius on February 9. The warming has scientists concerned about ice melt and collapse leading to higher sea levels worldwide.
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Mexico City: An enormous iceberg is heading toward South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic, where scientists say a collision could devastate wildlife by threatening the food chain.
Scientists have long been watching this climate-related event unfold, as the iceberg - the size and shape of Jamaica – has meandered and advanced over two years since breaking off from the Antarctic peninsula in July 2017.
The peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth, registering a record high temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius on February 9. The warming has scientists concerned about ice melt and collapse leading to higher sea levels worldwide.
A68A, the monstrous 4200-square-kilometre iceberg is the size of South Georgia itself.
The impact would crush marine life on the sea floor, such as coral, sponges and plankton.
A satellite image of the A68A iceberg (left) as it approaches South Georgia Island (right).(Sentinelhub)
It also has the potential to block the island s 2 million penguins as well as seals from their hunting areas, Norman Ratcliffe, a seabird biologist in the Ecosystems Division of the British Antarctic Survey who have been monitoring the iceberg, said.
Whether the collision is days or weeks away is unclear, according to Geraint Tarling, a biological oceanographer who has been tracking the iceberg with the British Antarctic Survey.
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