London CNN —The world’s biggest iceberg – more than twice the size of Britain’s capital city - is on the move after decades of being grounded on the seafloor in Antarctica.
The huge mass of ice broke away from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in 1986, calved and grounded on the Antarctic’s Weddell Sea floor almost immediately.
The iceberg, named A23a, is about 400 meters (1,312 feet) thick, and almost 4,000 square kilometers (1,544 square miles) in area.
Greater London, by way of comparison, is 1,572 square kilometers (607 square miles).
The iceberg, carried by ocean currents, will likely head eastward, and at its current rate is traveling five kilometers (three miles) a day.
Persons:
Ella Gilbert, Oliver Marsh, A23a, Gilbert, Marsh
Organizations:
London CNN, Ronne, British Antarctic Survey, CNN
Locations:
Antarctica, Weddell, Greater London