The iceberg has released as much water as 61 million Olympic swimming pools

The A-68A iceberg, which was drifting in the Southern Ocean, attracted attention in December 2020 as it approached southern Georgia. According to a report by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the British Center for Polar Monitoring and Modeling (CPOM), it is now known that The glacier has released 152 billion tons of fresh water, the equivalent of 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

As reported by BAS experts, the iceberg slightly hit the sea floor and broke, which lowered the keel to 141 meters, which means that when he approached the island he did not reach the sea floor (deep 150 meters). However, this approach will have an impact on the sea floor around the island and on ecosystems and wildlife, not only because of the amount of water released but also because of the nutrients it carries.

An A-68A erupted in July 2017 from the Larsen-C ice shelf in Antarctica. At that time, it had an area of ​​about 5,719 square meters, and was considered the largest in the world. As it moved through the warmer waters, the thickness of the ice melted, currently losing 67 meters in thickness.

“That’s a massive amount of meltwater, and the next thing we want to learn is whether this has a positive or negative impact on the ecosystem around South Georgia. How the A68A cut a common route through the Drake Passage [parte do oceano entre a Antártida e a América do Sul]We hope to learn more about icebergs that follow a similar path and how they affect the polar oceans‘,” explains Ann Brackman Folgman, a researcher at CPOM.