The world's largest iceberg – spinning uncontrollably | World

The world's largest iceberg has been out of control for months, stuck in a swirling current off the coast of Antarctica.

The iceberg is larger than the entire area of ​​Jutland and has previously moved towards the open sea.

The BBC reported that A23a broke off the coast of Antarctica in 1986, but was immediately stuck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

Only in 2020 did the iceberg start to drift again.

But now the iceberg has been stuck for months, and it could take years before it breaks free from the strong current.

refuses to die

– Icebergs are often thought of as transient, breaking up and melting away. But that's not the case, says polar expert Professor Mark Brandon. BBC.

He continued:

– A23a is the iceberg that refuses to die.

But the current will not prevent the iceberg from melting.

“Anyway, it’s stuck there, and it’s circling. It’s going to slowly melt as long as it stays there,” oceanographer Alex Brierley, president of the Open Ocean Research Group, told The New York Times, adding that it’s not known how long the iceberg will stay in the current.

The phenomenon behind it

The BBC reports that the cause of the swirling water currents in which the iceberg is stuck is a phenomenon known in English as the “Taylor Column.”

This phenomenon can occur when an obstacle on the sea floor separates water currents into two flows, which in turn creates a rotating current between them.