this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025
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The world's largest iceberg is on a collision course with the British territory of South Georgia - potentially putting millions of penguins and seals in danger.

The trillion-tonne slab of ice, named A23a, broke free from its position last month and started drifting northwards.

The "megaberg" - which is twice the size of Greater London and 130 feet tall - is expected to approach the remote island off Antarctica in the next two to four weeks.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Is this related to the doomsday iceberg that recently broke free? Basically the giant cork holding back the entire ice sheet?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (3 children)

twice the size of Greater London and 130 feet tall

Fucking hell.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Thanks! Thats awesome. You can also see it here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Just the tip?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's probably 400' deep (i.e. draft) too then.

It's almost incomprehensibly huge.

[–] kata1yst 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

During the ice age the size of the Laurentide ice sheet was over 4km (2.5 miles) thick and 13m km^2^ (5m miles^2^)

This is completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand, except it's another mind-blowingly huge piece of ice.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's a random fun fact and I suck them up like a sponge.

edit: soak. I soak them up like a sponge. That's the word I couldn't remember.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

No, didn't you read? He sucks facts.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

It's also going to take several years to melt to the point that it's no longer a danger to shipping. And as it melts, it will break up into more and more chunks.

If it gets near shipping lanes it will disrupt commerce for years.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This sounds like a mechanical engineering test question.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

D) All of the above

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

130 feet tall with 9/10 underwater means about 400 meters thich. Nice. Also :

"The whole ecosystem in the Southern Ocean is very resilient to these events," he wrote. "It has evolved with these icebergs being a factor for hundreds of thousands of years."

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I mean, I kind of take exception to that quote. Wildlife doesn't "evolve" to take into account 1/10,000 year events. That's like saying an animal evolves to deal with meteor strikes. It just doesn't happen. You can't evolve to deal with entire islands being run over and demolished because it just doesn't happen often enough to be a significant selection pressure. It's just bad luck.

Sure the ecosystem of the ocean will be fine, because icebergs are part of the ocean and part of its ecosystem. But the wildlife within that ocean may be significantly affected like entire populations being wiped out.

It's like saying global warming isn't an issue because the earth will survive and adapt. Most species alive today will go extinct, but the earth will survive.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

There's also this part of the article.

Experts fear for the island's rich wildlife. If the iceberg gets wedged in the shallow waters close to the island, it could block vital pathways for penguins to get food for themselves and their chicks.

It's not going to run over the island. It's going to get stuck near it and fuck up their feeding grounds.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Yes, it can happen. Population choke points drive rapid evolution.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If it's that big, how can it even hit the island? Wouldn't it be grounded long before?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Momentum is a pretty powerful thing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is the plot to Happy Feet 2.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

"The ice taps back"