In November 2023, the monster iceberg A23e finally dislodged from the seafloor after being grounded and stuck there for 40 years. A series of recent satellite images show that the mighty iceberg is now heading away from Antarctic waters, seeking fame and fortune in the high seas. A23a measures 4,000 sq kilometers in area and is over 280 meters thick, and is currently the world’s largest iceberg. Its first path will follow the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, heading towards South America.
Tiny Elephant Island, an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica seen in the image above, has an area of only 215 sq km.
An animation from Copernicus Sentinel-1 images shows iceberg A23a’s movements from 2 November 2023, 14 November 2023 and 26 November 2023. Credit: ESA.
In 1986, a gigantic iceberg separated from the Fichner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica. It was so big that it became grounded, stuck to the seafloor, and remained in position for 40 years. Finally, it has now been pushed off the seafloor and has begun drifting in the Weddell Sea to a region in the South Atlantic called Iceberg Alley. Designated A23a, this monster berg measures 4000 sq km (1,500 square miles) and is about 400 meters (1,300 feet) thick – the world’s largest.
An enormous iceberg has calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf, lying in the Weddell Sea, in Antarctica. Image by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. Credit: ESA
A gigantic chunk of ice recently broke off from an ice shelf in Antarctica, and is currently the world’s largest iceberg. The iceberg, dubbed A-76, measures around 4,320 square km (1,670 square miles) in size. At 170 km (106 miles) in length and 25 km (15 miles) wide, the iceberg is slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca, and bigger than the state of Rhode Island in the US.
A-76 was captured in the above image by ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite. Below is an animation of the iceberg calving off the Ronne Ice Shelf.
A-68 iceberg positions as seen by Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on January 30 2021. Image Credit: ESA
Iceberg A-68A, the massive frigid behemoth posing a threat to South Georgia Island, might be breaking into pieces. Satellite images from the European Space Agency showed large cracks forming in the iceberg.
The iceberg A-68A floating in open waters about 1050 km from its birthplace. It's been floating for three years. Image Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
A massive iceberg named A-68A is on a long journey through the seas near Antarctica. Though largely empty, those waters do host some islands, most notably South Georgia Island. In recent weeks satellite images showed the iceberg heading right for South Georgia.
That upcoming collision could have devastating consequences for wildlife that congregates on the island. But now, it looks like the collision might not happen.
The iceberg A-68A floating in open waters about 1050 km from its birthplace. It's been floating for three years. Image Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
An iceberg that calved off of from a larger ice formation has spent three years floating on the ocean near Antarctica. The iceberg broke off of the Larsen Ice Shelf in mid-July 2017. It’s been battered and split up into three pieces, but it’s still going.
The coffin-shaped iceberg B-15T is drifting to its death after 18 years of "life." Image Credit: NASA/Jeremy Harbeck.
Nothing lasts forever, especially an iceberg drifting away from its frigid home. This coffin-shaped iceberg was spotted by astronauts on the International Space Station as it drifted northwards. It split off from a much larger iceberg about 18 years ago, and is moving into warmer and warmer waters.
This stunning glacial portrait was photographed in Cierva Cove, Antarctica. An incredibly rare sight--this photo reveals the beautiful colors and pure surface of the underside of an iceberg. Credit and copyright: Alex Cornell.
In December 2014, designer and musician Alex Cornell traveled to Antarctica. While he saw many unique views of the Antarctic landscape, one extremely rare view stands out. He saw an iceberg that had recently flipped over, exposing the usually unseen – but gorgeous — underside.
“Icebergs are typically white, like you see in pictures,” Cornell told Universe Today. “But this one had recently flipped over and had this arresting alien-green color to it. It looked a lot more like a parked spacecraft than a floating iceberg.”
He said the experience was “magical.”
This stunning glacial portrait was photographed in Cierva Cove, Antarctica. An incredibly rare sight–this photo reveals the beautiful colors and pure surface of the underside of an iceberg. Credit and copyright: Alex Cornell.
He traveled with family members and brought his camera rig, hoping to shoot the glaciers, ice and penguins.
“We saw thousands of icebergs of course, but only one revealed its gorgeous underside — the 90% ‘below the surface’ you hear so much about,” he said.
Scientists say that icebergs will flip over when the “topside” melts enough to change the shape of the iceberg, creating a shift in equilibrium.
Why is the underside so different in color?
Ice is full of tiny air bubbles that scatter all color wavelengths the same amount, usually giving the ice a white appearance. But, according to scientists at Ohio State University, if the ice is compressed – as it would be for the underwater portion of the iceberg — the bubbles are squeezed out and the blue light is scattered much more than other colors – making the ice appear blue. Also, algae often grow on the underside of icebergs, producing green stripes that are only revealed when the ice rolls over and exposes the previously underwater sections.
A zoomed out version of a flipped iceberg in Cierva Cove, Antarctica. Credit and copyright: Alex Cornell.
“I shot these pictures from a Zodiac (boat) which allowed me to get pretty close,” Cornell said via email. “There’s always a danger of the iceberg flipping back over, so we couldn’t get *too* close.”
“From an artistic perspective, they are beautiful photos, but their beauty is the result of what was captured. I was just lucky to be there to snap it. You could have pointed an iPhone at this thing and come away with something spectacular. What luck to get to share something so magical!”
Thanks to Alex for sharing his unique images with Universe Today. See more of his wonderful imagery from his Antarctica trip on his website.
A Sun halo seen among the the landscape and ice flows of Antarctica. Credit and copyright: Alex Cornell.
As an April Fool’s joke in 1978, Australian businessman Dick Smith claimed he was towing an iceberg from Antarctica to Sydney Harbour. He used a barge covered with white plastic and fire extinguisher foam in effort to convince those who gathered at the harbor to see it. Apparently, however, the idea is not such a joke after all. A team of engineers from France have studied the concept, did a simulation and found that icebergs floating around in the ocean could be tethered and towed to places that are experiencing a severe drought and water shortages.
The idea originally was conceived in the 1970’s by an graduate student named Georges Mougin, who even received some funds from a Saudi prince to test the idea, but not much came of it.
According to an article on PhysOrg, the French engineers looked into the idea and concluded that towing an iceberg from, for example, the waters around Newfoundland to the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, could be done, and would take just under five months when towed by a tugboat outfitted with a kite sail, traveling at about one knot.
The cost would be almost ten million dollars, however.
According to a simulated test, the iceberg would lose only 38 percent of its seven ton mass during the trip, if it was fitted with an insulated skirt.
Apparently Mougin is encouraged by the results and now at age 86 is trying to raise money for an actual iceberg-tow.
An iceberg the size of Manhattan drifts off the coast of Labrador
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Taken by NASA astronaut and Expedition 27 flight engineer Ron Garan, this image shows the Petermann Ice Island (PII-A) currently adrift off the coast of Labrador. The island is a chunk of ice that broke off the Petermann Glacier in Greenland in August of 2010 and has been moving slowly southward ever since. It is currently about 21 square miles (55 square km) in size – nearly the same area as Manhattan!
Garan’s original photo was posted to his Twitter feed earlier today… I cropped the full-size version, rotated it so that south is down and edited it to bring out surface details in the island. Ridges in its surface can be seen as well as many bright blue meltwater ponds.
"Another look at that lonely iceberg from space... can you find it?" @Astro_Ron
Overlaid on the left side is an approximate scale size of Manhattan. This thing is BIG!
PII-A is currently drifting toward Newfoundland but is unlikely to reach land… its base will run against the sea floor long before that. But it has been reported to be posing a problem for ships and offshore oil rigs. (Read more about PII-A on NASA’s Earth Observatory site here.)
When he’s not performing other duties aboard the Space Station, Ron Garan posts photos of Earth from orbit on his Twitter feed (@Astro_Ron) and also on his website FragileOasis.org, thereby sharing his unique and privileged perspective on our world. Founded by Garan, Fragile Oasis is a site that supports and publicizes many global projects supporting humanitarian and environmental missions. Visit, become a member, and you too can “learn, act, and make a difference.” After all, who better than an astronaut would know how much our world is connected, and how fragile it really is!
Image credit: NASA / Ron Garan. Edited by Jason Major.
PS: If you want an idea of how something like this would look like up close, check out this video below taken from a ship near one of the smaller pieces of the ice island!
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Jason Major is a graphic designer, photo enthusiast and space blogger. Visit his website Lights in the Dark and follow him on Twitter @JPMajor or on Facebook for the most up-to-date astronomy awesomeness!
