Latest news with #AndrewMeijers
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NASA image reveals shocking transformation of world's largest iceberg: 'Thousands of ... pieces litter the ocean's surface'
A massive slab of ice that has been drifting through Antarctic waters is crumbling into smaller pieces, and it's happening just off the coast of a wildlife refuge. According to Live Science, the breakup of iceberg A23a, which is visible via satellite, could have damaging effects on fragile marine ecosystems. A23a is currently the largest iceberg in the world, with a surface area of about 1,200 square miles. Since breaking off Antarctica's mainland in 1986, A23a has made its way toward the territory of South Georgia, becoming stuck about 60 miles off its coast, according to Live Science. South Georgia's shallow waters and weather are chipping away at the iceberg. Earlier this month, NASA's Aqua satellite found multiple broken pieces in the sea, along with a surface area that has decreased "considerably" since the iceberg got stuck. According to NASA, "Thousands of iceberg pieces litter the ocean surface near the main berg, creating a scene reminiscent of a dark starry night." Ice shelves sometimes break off naturally, forming icebergs that can last decades. But the typical formation and breaking patterns of ice shelves have accelerated. According to glaciers have been shrinking each year for 37 years. Scientists and experts attribute much of this phenomenon to rising temperatures from human activities. Rising temperatures supercharge extreme weather, causing hurricanes and storms to be more powerful and dangerous. Stronger storms often lead to changing sea levels and ocean flow patterns. Warmer weather can also increase water temperature. Together, these forces create a perfect recipe for icebergs to break apart. Here's the problem with ice melt: Its impact doesn't usually stay local. When massive icebergs like A23a break apart and melt, sea levels around the world can rise. Higher seas cause higher tides that push water into coastal neighborhoods, flooding roads, damaging homes, and contaminating water supplies. The shift in ocean patterns and temperatures can also disrupt fisheries and agriculture, affecting food supplies that people around the world rely on. Other animals could feel the effects, too. A23a is breaking off near a wildlife refuge that's home to numerous species. According to Oceanwide Expeditions, South Georgia is home to the one of the largest global populations of king penguins. An iceberg and its broken pieces invading their space could disrupt their ability to reach feeding sites, per Dr. Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at British Antarctic Survey. However, Meijers adds that as long as A23a stays where it currently is, penguin populations shouldn't be affected. The underlying cause of rapid ice melt is rising temperatures from human activities, such as driving gas-powered vehicles and using polluting energy sources like coal and oil. Scientists and policymakers are focusing on cutting down on these drivers through climate agreements, like the Paris Agreement, and promoting cleaner energy alternatives, like solar and wind energy. Scientists also use satellites to monitor icebergs, tracking their changes over time to understand their effects on sea levels, wildlife habitats, and communities. Individuals can explore critical climate issues to learn how everyday choices, from using energy-efficient appliances to choosing to walk instead of driving, can lead to a healthier planet and help slow the retreat of vulnerable ice shelves. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Watch the world's largest iceberg run aground near remote island in South Atlantic Ocean
Newly released satellite footage shows the world's largest iceberg running aground near a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean last month. The timelapse video, published by Colorado State University's Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, shows the iceberg, called A23a, becoming stuck in shallow waters about 90 kilometers (roughly 56 miles) off the southwestern coast of South Georgia Island over the course of March. Slightly smaller than Rhode Island, A23a originally split from Antarctica's Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986 and then remained grounded on the seabed in the Weddell Sea for over 30 years, according to the British Antarctic Survey. It began drifting in 2020 after gradually melting for years, and its migration was accelerated by currents and winds sweeping it north towards warmer air and waters, the BBC reported last year. British Antarctic Survey oceanographer Dr. Andrew Meijers remarked that the iceberg running aground wouldn't 'significantly affect' the millions of animals that reside on South Georgia Island. There are also no permanent human settlements on the island, so humans won't be affected either; however, there are two research stations at King Edward Point and on the nearby Bird Island that have peak summer populations of 44 and 10, respectively. 'If the iceberg stays grounded, we don't expect it to significantly affect the local wildlife of South Georgia…In the last few decades, the many icebergs that end up taking this route through the Southern Ocean soon break up, disperse and melt,' Dr. Meijers said. 'Commercial fisheries have been disrupted in the past however, and as the berg breaks into smaller pieces, this might make fishing operations in the area both more difficult and potentially hazardous.' 'Well above normal' temperatures expected for Southern California this week 'It will be interesting to see what will happen now, [because] from a scientific perspective we are keen to see how the iceberg will affect the local ecosystem,' he continued. 'Nutrients stirred up by the grounding and from its melt may boost food availability for the whole regional ecosystem, including for charismatic penguins and seals. We have several ongoing studies looking at exactly how 'megabergs' influence the ocean circulation, its chemistry, and the ecosystems they support.' As for whether or not A23a's history is linked to global warming, Dr. Meijers noted that iceberg activity is normal but increasing. 'Icebergs, including 'megabergs' like this one, are a completely normal part of the lifecycle of the Antarctic, and Greenland, ice sheets. They basically are pushed out into the ocean by the weight of continental ice behind, begin to float as ice shelves, and eventually break off as icebergs due to a combination of flexure by winds, waves, tides and ocean melting,' he explained. 'However, observations show that the ice shelves have lost around 6000 giga tonnes of their mass since the year 2000, which is roughly matched by an increase in straight up melt of the ice shelves and aligns with a measured mass loss of the grounded ice over Antarctica attributed to anthropogenic climate change.' South Georgia Island is a large body of land that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Sky News
13-03-2025
- Science
- Sky News
Bigger than London and five times the weight of Mt Everest: The impact of the world's biggest iceberg
Why you can trust Sky News The iceberg A23a did not exactly smack into the remote wildlife-rich island of South Georgia. It was bearing down on the small British overseas territory at a glacial 1km per hour. But given this megaberg is 40 miles across and weighs around five times as much as Mount Everest, its running aground on the rocky shelf had quite the impact. How will it affect the wildlife? The effect of a trillion tonnes of ice melting so close to one of the world's most important wildlife havens is uncertain. It could prevent many of South Georgia's millions of penguins from accessing food, and it's already interfered with ships moving through the area. How long has it been around? Megabergs like this big are not common. Vast slabs of ice are constantly breaking off Antarctica 's ice shelves but most splinter into fragments as soon as they begin floating free in the warmer ocean surrounding the continent. But A23a has persisted - for a long time. It calved off the Ronne-Filchner ice shelf - a vast floating sill of ice in Antarctica's Weddell Sea - way back in 1986. It took with it a Soviet research station, Druzhnaya I, that had been constructed on its edge. The megaberg, hemmed in by other smaller icebergs barely moved for 20 years, then in 2020 began slowly drifting northwards. It spent six months last year spinning in a revolving ocean current in the Southern Ocean before finally breaking free in the New Year on a collision course with the mountainous wildlife-rich island of South Georgia - 1,000 miles north of where it started. It approached the island at a speed of around 30km a day. "Fairly ripping along for an iceberg," according to Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. Will it shrink? The sea around South Georgia is warm compared to its Antarctic birthplace, so the iceberg is expected to get thinner, more fragile and break up quite quickly. The impacts it might have are likely to be localised - but not insignificant if you are one of the millions of penguins or seals that call South Georgia home. A trillion tonnes of fresh water, which floats on top of more dense sea water, could force the food for marine animals deeper underwater. Alternatively, if the megaberg is carrying a lot of mud and sediment, this could add nutrients to the water, providing more food for sea life. What are the consequences? A23a is symbolic of a more global and far more consequential trend: the rapid melting of ice in Antarctica. The continent is losing around 150 billion tonnes of water in the form of ice a year, half carried away as icebergs, the rest due to ice melting directly off the continent itself. As the world's largest reserve of fresh water, this is leading to the inexorable rise in sea level - expected to be around 60cm by 2100 - due to Antarctic melting alone. But a more pressing concern is the impact of all that fresh water on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - a slow overturning of ocean water that serves as our planet's cooling system. Warm air from the rest of the planet heats the surface waters, currents then draw this warmer water down, replacing it with cooler water from the depths of the ocean. "It does all of the heavy lifting in terms of trapping heat from global warming," says Dr Meijers. Microscopic plants - phytoplankton - in the region also absorb the most planet-warming carbon dioxide which is, like the warmer water, carried deep into the oceans and stored there. A recent study suggests fresh water from melting icebergs and the Antarctic continent is already slowing this circumpolar current and may reduce its speed by 20% by 2050. A potentially worrying "positive feedback" that could further exacerbate global warming.
Sky News
13-03-2025
- Science
- Sky News
Bigger than London and five times the weight of Mount Everest: The impact of the world's biggest iceberg
Why you can trust Sky News The iceberg A23a did not exactly smack into the remote wildlife-rich island of South Georgia. It was bearing down on the small British overseas territory at a glacial 1km per hour. But given this megaberg is 40 miles across and weighs around five times as much as Mount Everest, its running aground on the rocky shelf had quite the impact. How will it affect the wildlife? The effect of a trillion tonnes of ice melting so close to one of the world's most important wildlife havens is uncertain. It could prevent many of South Georgia's millions of penguins from accessing food, and it's already interfered with ships moving through the area. How long has it been around? Megabergs like this big are not common. Vast slabs of ice are constantly breaking off Antarctica 's ice shelves but most splinter into fragments as soon as they begin floating free in the warmer ocean surrounding the continent. But A23a has persisted - for a long time. It calved off the Ronne-Filchner ice shelf - a vast floating sill of ice in Antarctica's Weddell Sea - way back in 1986. It took with it a Soviet research station, Druzhnaya I, that had been constructed on its edge. The megaberg, hemmed in by other smaller icebergs barely moved for 20 years, then in 2020 began slowly drifting northwards. It spent six months last year spinning in a revolving ocean current in the Southern Ocean before finally breaking free in the New Year on a collision course with the mountainous wildlife-rich island of South Georgia - 1,000 miles north of where it started. It approached the island at a speed of around 30km a day. "Fairly ripping along for an iceberg," according to Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. Will it shrink? The sea around South Georgia is warm compared to its Antarctic birthplace, so the iceberg is expected to get thinner, more fragile and break up quite quickly. The impacts it might have are likely to be localised - but not insignificant if you are one of the millions of penguins or seals that call South Georgia home. A trillion tonnes of fresh water, which floats on top of more dense sea water, could force the food for marine animals deeper underwater. Alternatively, if the megaberg is carrying a lot of mud and sediment, this could add nutrients to the water, providing more food for sea life. What are the consequences? A23a is symbolic of a more global and far more consequential trend: the rapid melting of ice in Antarctica. The continent is losing around 150 billion tonnes of water in the form of ice a year, half carried away as icebergs, the rest due to ice melting directly off the continent itself. As the world's largest reserve of fresh water, this is leading to the inexorable rise in sea level - expected to be around 60cm by 2100 - due to Antarctic melting alone. But a more pressing concern is the impact of all that fresh water on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - a slow overturning of ocean water that serves as our planet's cooling system. Warm air from the rest of the planet heats the surface waters, currents then draw this warmer water down, replacing it with cooler water from the depths of the ocean. "It does all of the heavy lifting in terms of trapping heat from global warming," says Dr Meijers. Microscopic plants - phytoplankton - in the region also absorb the most planet-warming carbon dioxide which is, like the warmer water, carried deep into the oceans and stored there. A recent study suggests fresh water from melting icebergs and the Antarctic continent is already slowing this circumpolar current and may reduce its speed by 20% by 2050. A potentially worrying "positive feedback" that could further exacerbate global warming.
Sky News
13-03-2025
- Science
- Sky News
Bigger than London and weighing five times Mount Everest: The impact of the world's biggest iceberg
The iceberg A23a did not exactly smack into the remote wildlife-rich island of South Georgia. It was bearing down on the small British overseas territory at a glacial 1km per hour. But given this megaberg is 40 miles across and weighs around five times Mount Everest, its running aground on the rocky shelf around had quite the impact. How will it affect the wildlife? The effect of a trillion tonnes of ice melting so close to one of the world's most important wildlife havens is uncertain. It could prevent many of South Georgia's millions of penguins from accessing food, and it's already interfered with ships moving through the area. How long has it been around? Megabergs like this big are not common. Vast slabs of ice are constantly breaking off Antarctica 's ice shelves but most splinter into fragments as soon as they begin floating free in the warmer ocean surrounding the continent. But A23a has persisted - for a long time. It calved off the Ronne-Filchner ice shelf - a vast floating sill of ice in Antarctica's Weddell Sea - way back in 1986. It took with it a Soviet research station, Druzhnaya I, that had been constructed on its edge. The megaberg, hemmed in by other smaller icebergs barely moved for 20 years, then in 2020 began slowly drifting northwards. It spent six months last year spinning in a revolving ocean current in the Southern Ocean before finally breaking free in the New Year on a collision course with the mountainous wildlife-rich island of South Georgia - 1,000 miles north of where it started. It approached the island at a speed of around 30km a day. "Fairly ripping along for an iceberg," according to Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. The sea around South Georgia is warm compared to its Antarctic birthplace, so the iceberg is expected to get thinner, more fragile and break up quite quickly. The impacts it might have are likely to be localised - but not insignificant if you are one of the millions of penguins or seals that call South Georgia home. A trillion tonnes of fresh water, which floats on top of more dense sea water, could force the food for marine animals deeper underwater. Alternatively, if the megaberg is carrying a lot of mud and sediment, this could add nutrients to the water, providing more food for sea life. What are the consequences? A23a is symbolic of a more global and far more consequential trend: the rapid melting of ice in Antarctica. The continent is losing around 150 billion tonnes of water in the form of ice a year, half carried away as icebergs, the rest due to ice melting directly off the continent itself. As the world's largest reserve of fresh water, this is leading to the inexorable rise in sea level - expected to be around 60cm by 2100 - due to Antarctic melting alone. But a more pressing concern is the impact of all that fresh water on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - a slow overturning of ocean water that serves as our planet's cooling system. Warm air from the rest of the planet heats the surface waters, currents then draw this warmer water down, replacing it with cooler water from the depths of the ocean. "It does all of the heavy lifting in terms of trapping heat from global warming," says Dr Meijers. Microscopic plants - phytoplankton - in the region also absorb the most planet-warming carbon dioxide which is, like the warmer water, carried deep into the oceans and stored there. A recent study suggests fresh water from melting icebergs and the Antarctic continent is already slowing this circumpolar current and may reduce its speed by 20% by 2050. A potentially worrying "positive feedback" that could further exacerbate global warming.
