Huge iceberg dumped nearly 1 trillion tons of freshwater, effects could be massive

INA – SOURCES 
 
What was once the biggest iceberg in the world released more than 167 billion tons of freshwater in three months and nearly 1 trillion tons in its lifespan, which could have profound effects on wildlife, scientists say.
 
The A68A iceberg was part of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf on the Antarctica peninsula before it broke off in July 2017. At the time, it was the biggest iceberg on Earth at 2,208 square miles, larger than the state of Delaware.
 
When the iceberg broke off, it began to drift across the Southern Ocean. In December 2020, the iceberg began to approach South Georgia island, about 1,300 miles off the Argentina coast. The island is home to wildlife including penguins and seals.
 
Scientists said the iceberg broke apart just before it could have hit the seabed. A collision could have seriously damaged the island's ecosystem, including killing wildlife.
 
A team of international scientists then examined the size and thickness of the iceberg since it first broke off using three satellites. The team found the iceberg had released more than 167 billion tons of water around the island in three months. That would be enough water to fill 61 million Olympic-size swimming pools.
 
"This is a huge amount of melt water," Anne Braakmann-Folgmann, a researcher at the University of Leeds in England and Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, said in a statement. 
 
The melting was the result of the iceberg's movement from the cold waters along the Drake Passage to the warmer Scotia Sea near the island. When the iceberg approached the island, it dropped in thickness from 771 feet to 219 feet, most of which occurred from November 2020 to January 2021.
 
By April 2021, it had completely melted, totaling 992 billion tons of ice lost in its 2,485-mile journey since it broke off in 2017. At its peak, 22 feet of ice melted each month.