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A68A in open water last summer Satellite Image: European Space Agency
By Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer
An iceberg is on a collision course could hit South Georgia — an island owned by the UK in the Atlantic Ocean. This iceberg, A-68A, is the largest iceberg in the Southern Ocean – it is the size of the state of Delaware, The Hill reported. It broke off from Antarctica in July 2017, and while the route the iceberg will take is still unclear, should the iceberg hit South Georgia, it could have dire consequences for the wildlife surrounding the island. The large iceberg is also roughly the size of South Georgia itself, so a collision could also affect the island’s shipping and fishing industries.
Why This Matters: If this iceberg crashes into South Georgia, it could get stuck there for a decade. This could have major consequences on South Georgia’s biome — land-based predators like penguins and seals could have trouble finding food especially during pup and chick-rearing periods. Circumventing the giant iceberg might mean that these animals will take longer to find food, which could leave their young to starve to death. The iceberg also could affect ocean ecosystems as it floats towards South Georgia because it scrapes along the seafloor.
On a Collision Course
A-68 broke away from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf, and it was bigger than the country of Luxembourg when it fractured initially in July 2017. The iceberg lost some chunks throughout its journey north — after its first split, the iceberg was renamed, with the largest section called A-68A, and the smaller section called A-68B. Another piece split off from A-68A in April 2020 (called A-68C), and is now about 150 km long and 48 km wide.
While researchers worry that the iceberg would collide with South Georgia, A-68A extends very deeply below the ocean’s surface. Because of this, there is a chance that A-68A could skid to a stop in the middle of the ocean, sparing South Georgia. The iceberg crash might also have some positive effects: its dust could feed ocean plankton, which removes carbon from the atmosphere and could have a small influence in mitigating the climate crisis.
This week, we have featured this series of videos by the Environmental Defense Fund about the impacts climate change is having on the ocean as observed by the people who live and work there — fishermen and women. Their stories have been compelling and provided a sense of the ways that climate change is harming and shifting global fish stocks.
Why This Matters: On Tuesday, pursuant to President Biden’s climate executive order, NOAA announced: “an agency-wide effort to gather initial public input” on “how to make fisheries, including aquaculture, and protected resources more resilient to climate change.
It’s not just men in the fishing sector who are impacted by climate change, overfishing, and COVID-19 — women are too. Women like Alexia Jaurez of Sonora, Mexico, who is featured in this Environmental Defense Fund video, do the important work of monitoring the catch and the price, and most importantly determining how many more […]
By Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Last summer, Florida created its first aquatic preserve in over 30 years. The Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve protects about 400,000 acres of seagrass just north of Tampa on Florida’s Gulf coast. These are part of the Gulf of Mexico’s largest seagrass bed and borders other existing preserves, creating a […]
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