The largest iceberg in the world, which had been stuck in a vortex for a long period, is now moving again.
As per BBC, the iceberg, named A23a is 3,800 square kilometers, (1,500 square miles) in size, which is more than twice the size of Greater London. It is 400 meters (1,312 feet) thick.
Although A23a broke away from Antarctica in 1986, it soon got stuck near the coast, unable to move.
The iceberg was so thick that its bottom got stuck on the ocean floor of the Weddell Sea, which is a part of the Southern Ocean.
Because of this, the iceberg remained in the same spot without moving for more than 30 years.
The iceberg began to move northward in 2020, but since the spring of that year, it has been spinning in one place because it got caught in a rotating water current near the South Orkney Islands.
As a result, the current stopped the iceberg from moving forward.
Dr Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), said, "It's exciting to see A23a on the move again after periods of being stuck.”
He added, “We are interested to see if it will take the same route the other large icebergs that have calved off Antarctica have taken."
Experts now believe that iceberg will leave the Southern Ocean and enter into the Atlantic Ocean and in warmer water of the Atlantic, the iceberg is likely to break into smaller pieces and eventually get melted.
