Science Dancing in the ocean whirlpool: the world's largest iceberg is stuck

What is currently the world's largest iceberg is probably stuck in a huge whirlpool. The colossus known as A23a has been spinning around itself in the Southern Ocean for months, as satellite images show. It takes the iceberg a good 24 days to complete one turn.

It is possible that the iceberg will not be able to escape the so-called Taylor column for years, according to the British broadcaster BBC, citing experts.

However, this also prevents the colossus from reaching warmer climes carried by ocean currents and melting more quickly. "A23a is the iceberg that simply refuses to die," the BBC quotes polar expert Mark Brandon from the Open University.

Close to the South Orkney Islands to the north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula, it rotates counter-clockwise by around 15 degrees every day, according to the British Antarctic Survey polar research institute on Platform X.

4000 square kilometers in size

The iceberg is around 4000 square kilometers in size, about twice the size of the canton of St. Gallen. In the meantime, waves and weathering have carved huge arches and cave-like depressions into the colossus, as images from a ship operated by Eyos Expeditions in mid-January show.

A23a broke away from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the Antarctic in 1986, but remained stuck to the seabed for decades. After breaking away in 2000, it temporarily went on a kind of spurt - only to remain in one place again.

According to the European Space Agency Esa, icebergs from the so-called Weddell sector usually end up in the South Atlantic and melt away.

SDA