This Copernicus Sentinel-2 picture over the South Atlantic Ocean includes a close-up view of the A23a iceberg, as soon as the world’s largest. The unusually cloud-free picture reveals the primary indicators that the iceberg will quickly disintegrate fully.
Zoom in to discover this picture at its full 10 m decision.
A23a calved from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica in 1986. On the time it measured round 4000 sq km – greater than thrice the dimensions of Rome – making it the most important iceberg on the planet. After being grounded on the ocean flooring for many years, in 2020 it misplaced its grip and started floating within the Weddell Sea till, in November 2023, it began drifting shortly away from Antarctic waters.
Pushed by winds and currents, the iceberg travelled about 2000 km additional north in the direction of the hotter South Atlantic Ocean waters, reaching South Georgia Island in Could 2025, the place it began to disintegrate.
All through 2025, A23a has been breaking up into smaller blocks of ice lowering its measurement considerably. On this picture from 20 December 2025, the iceberg is roughly 150 km northwest of South Georgia, surrounded by quite a few icebergs from totally different sizes. Though it has misplaced about three-quarters of its floor space, A23a continues to be one of many largest icebergs floating in open waters, overlaying roughly 1000 sq km.
The brilliant blue areas seen on its floor and on the icebergs to its south are ponds of meltwater, that are clear indicators of the iceberg’s speedy demise.
The disintegration is typical of icebergs that attain this far north and is attributable to the hotter sea temperatures and climate situations. As A23a is travelling in the direction of even hotter waters pushed by the currents, it would quickly expertise an analogous destiny to different megabergs which have disintegrated in the identical waters.
