• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Watch the world's biggest iceberg spin around 360° as it moves to warmer waters

Home> Science> News

Published 11:34 20 Feb 2024 GMT

Watch the world's biggest iceberg spin around 360° as it moves to warmer waters

This Antarctic megaburg is on the move.

Prudence Wade

Prudence Wade

It turns out even the world's largest iceberg (and it's seriously massive) doesn't sit still, as demonstrated in a funky new timelapse of images.

The iceberg is called the A23a megaburg, and is roughly the size of Rhode Island or Cornwall - so it's absolutely huge.

While it has spent large stretches of time in pretty much the same spot, it's untethered and can move if the currents hit it right - and it's been doing just that recently, travelling at speeds of up to 30 miles a day depending on a range of factors.

In fact, between late December 2023 and February 2024, it moved around so much that the British Antarctic Survey was able to stitch together satellite imagery to create a really fun little video.

Advert

It shows the megaburg spinning around as it finally breaks free to move around, hilariously set to the tune of Kylie Minogue's Spinning Around.

A follow-up explanation from the British Antarctic Survey is pretty handy for outlining what's actually going on.

It explains that the megaburg had been stuck to the ocean floor for around 30 years before it started to move - that's not a matter of a shallow ocean, though. Rather, the megaburg is around 400 meters tall in some places, so it effectively ran aground.

Now it's on the move again and following a similar path to other massive icebergs that have been charted in recent years.

All of this is happening near the northern tip of Antarctica, near fairly barren and inhospitable islands like Elephant Island.

Advert

Obviously, an iceberg of this size has to be carefully watched, since it wouldn't be ideal if it headed towards a bay or a coastline that's sensitive or inhabited. Equally, its sheer size means there wouldn't be much we could do about it, beyond issuing warnings.

Part of the interest in the iceberg is also about what it leaves in its wake - these huge icebergs can apparently leave behind trails of nutrients as they pass through, creating new ecosystems underwater and revitalizing areas that might have been previously barren.

That's a fascinating idea, although it's hard to escape the sense that this story is also to do with the ever-deepening climate crisis - after all, the idea of shrinking icebergs and ice caps makes that topic hard to ignore.

Featured Image Credit: @BAS_News/X/BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY
Science
Climate change

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
6 hours ago
8 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    World's biggest lithium reservoir with $1,500,000,000,000,000 worth of the precious metal hiding in supervolcano

    This could turn the US into a leading global supplier of the valuable metal

    Science
  • 4 hours ago

    Earth could be hit today by insane 600,000 mile-wide solar eruption that triggers extreme geomagnetic storm

    Scientists are warning that this could cause disruptions on Earth

    Science
  • 6 hours ago

    Scientists reveal people really can die from a broken heart but one gender is more like to suffer from it

    Heartbreak is now considered an actual health condition, and it can actually kill you

    Science
  • 8 hours ago

    Scientists build dystopian 32ft ‘black box’ solely designed to record the end of civilization

    It's the end of the world as we know it

    Science
  • World’s biggest iceberg is almost as tall as The Shard and weighs 1,000,000,000,000 tons
  • World's largest iceberg is on the loose in the Atlantic ocean and threatens catastrophic damage
  • Shocking report reveals the cities most vulnerable to climate disasters dubbed 'lucky' to remain unscathed
  • NASA scientists reveal exact moment Earth will 'run out of oxygen' as CO2 continues to increase