{"id":39460,"date":"2024-12-14T12:23:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T17:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/worlds-biggest-iceberg-heads-north-after-escaping-vortex\/14\/12\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-12-14T12:23:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T17:23:29","slug":"worlds-biggest-iceberg-heads-north-after-escaping-vortex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/worlds-biggest-iceberg-heads-north-after-escaping-vortex\/14\/12\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"World’s biggest iceberg heads north after escaping vortex"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The world’s biggest iceberg is on the move again after being trapped in a vortex for most of the year.<\/p>\n

A23a is 3,800 sq km (1,500 sq miles), which is more than twice the size of Greater London, and is 400m (1,312ft) thick. It broke free of Antarctica in 1986 though soon became stuck just off the coast.<\/p>\n

The depth of the iceberg meant its bottom became lodged on the floor of the Weddell Sea, part of the Southern Ocean, where it remained static for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

It began to move northwards in 2020 but, since the spring, has been spinning on the spot after it was caught in a rotating column of water<\/a> near the South Orkney Islands.<\/p>\n

On Friday the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said it was now drifting further north.<\/p>\n

Dr Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the BAS, said: “It’s exciting to see A23a on the move again after periods of being stuck.<\/p>\n

“We are interested to see if it will take the same route the other large icebergs that have calved off Antarctica have taken.”<\/p>\n