The world’s largest iceberg is stranded on a remote island

The world’s largest iceberg is stranded in shallow waters of South Georgia, a remote UK island home to millions of penguins and seals.

The iceberg, about twice the size of London, appears to be stuck and should begin to part ways on the island’s southwest coast.

Fishermen fear they will be forced to fight vast blocks of ice, which could affect macaroni penguins feeding in the area.

However, Antarctica scientists say a large amount of nutrients are trapped in ice, which can melt and cause an explosion of life in the ocean.

“It’s like dropping a nutritional bomb in the middle of an empty desert,” says Professor Nadine Johnston of the British Antarctic Survey.

“If it breaks, the resulting iceberg is likely to move into local flows and pose a risk to the vessel in restricting the vessel’s access to local fishing grounds,” said Mark Vertier, an ecologist who advises the South Georgia government.

Stranding is the latest twist in a nearly 40-year story that began in 1986 when Mega of Ice ice blocks destroyed Filchner – Ronne Ice Shelf.

Since December, we have tracked the routes of satellite photographs. December eventually broke freely after being trapped in an ocean vortex.

It remained very intact as it moved north through the warm waters known as the Iceberg Alley. For several days it appeared to spin on the spot before travelling about 20 miles (30km) per day in mid-February.

“The future of all icebergs is that they die. It’s very surprising to see that the A23A lasted so long and only lost about a quarter of the area,” Professor Huw Griffith spoke to BBC News at David Attenborough Polar Research Ship, who is currently in Antarctica.

On Saturday, a 300m high ice giant struck the shallow shelf about 50 miles (80km) from land and now appears to be firmly in place.

“Perhaps they’ll stay where it is, more or less, where it is, until the chunk collapses,” says Andrew Meiers, professor of Antarctic Research, UK.

It shows progressive signs of collapse. The size of 3,900 square kilometers (1,500 square miles) was reduced once, and as we moved into the warm waters, a large amount of water fell out. It currently has an estimated 3,234 square km.

“Instead of a large, pure, pristine box of ice, you can see the cave under the edge,” says Professor Magers.

If the tide lifts it up and down, touching the continental shelf, it will erode rocks and ice, crushing it back and forth.

“If the ice below rots – if it gets eroded with salt, it will collapse under stress and probably drift somewhere further shallow,” says Professor Magers.

But where the ice touches the shelf is thousands of small creatures, like corals, sea slugs and sponges.

“Their entire universe is bulldozed by huge slabs of ice that break down along the ocean floor,” says Professor Griffith.

This is devastating in the short term of these species, he says, but he is a natural part of the local life cycle.

“Where we’re destroying something in one place, we’re offering nutrients and food elsewhere,” he adds.

The larger creatures on the island were afraid. In 2004, an iceberg in another area called the Loss Sea influenced the success of penguins breeding, leading to a surge in death.

However, experts now believe that most birds and animals in South Georgia will escape their fate.

Some macaroni penguins forage on shelves where icebergs are stuck can be affected, according to Peter Fretwell in a British Antarctic survey.

Iceberg dissolves freshwater in salt water, reducing the amount of food that penguins eat, including the krill (small crustaceans).

He explains that birds can be moved to other feeding sites, but that will make them compete with other creatures.

Ice can block ports when fishing season begins in April and disrupt sailing.

“This will be the most ice from the iceberg we’ve ever dealt with in the fishing season, but we’re well prepared and we have the resources,” says Andrew Newman of Argos Froyanes.

But scientists working in Antarctica are now discovering the incredible contributions that icebergs can bring to ocean life.

Prof. Griffith and Prof. Johnston are working on Sir David Attenborough’s ship, gathering evidence of what their team believes is a huge flow of nutrients from Antarctic ice on Earth.

Scientists say that particles and nutrients from around the world are trapped in ice and then slowly released into the ocean.

“Without ice, there are none of these ecosystems. They are the most productive in the world, supporting a vast number of species and individual animals, and feeding the world’s largest animals, like blue whales,” says Professor Griffith.

A sign that this nutritional release has begun around A23A is when vast phytoplankton blooms around icebergs. It looks like a vast green halo around the ice, and will be visible in the satellite photos over the coming weeks and months.

The iceberg lifecycle is a natural process, but climate change is expected to produce more icebergs as Antarctica becomes warmer and more unstable.

It can break away from the continent’s vast ice sheets, melt at a faster rate, and destroy local wildlife and fishing patterns.