The world's largest iceberg suddenly disintegrates, and global warming intensifies? Is humanity feeling the crisis?

A huge iceberg named A68a near Antarctica recently disintegrated. Previously, this iceberg broke off from the huge Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2017, becoming the largest iceberg in the world and the fourth largest in history, and has been floating in the South Atlantic. Scientists had previously feared that the iceberg would collide with the island of South Georgia in eastern South America. Because the surface area of ​​this iceberg is 4,000 square kilometers, it is about half the area of ​​Wuhan City. Once it collided with nearby South Georgia Island, it sank into the ocean below the island's coastline. It will have a great impact on the marine ecosystem on the edge of the local continental shelf.

Iceberg A68a breaking off from Antarctic ice shelf

The waters around the island are about 4 degrees Celsius, but near the icebergs, the temperature It may drop to a few degrees below zero. Icebergs could release billions of tons of fresh water into the region while cooling seawater temperatures, which could be devastating for feedlots. This not only threatens the survival of plankton living here, but also irreversibly affects the survival of penguins, seals, whales, etc. that prey here.

South Georgia location

However, the iceberg is currently disintegrating on the way to South Georgia Island. On February 18, the iceberg had been broken in half due to the influence of strong ocean currents, but it broke again on December 22. A piece of 2,600 square kilometers has been reduced by half compared with the previous area, and the reduction in area has been affected by ocean currents and has moved eastward from the previous route to hit South Georgia Island. However, the area of ​​this iceberg is still very large at present, and it may be affected by ocean currents again and circle back to South Georgia Island in the future. Researchers will be watching closely.

Satellite imagery shows that the iceberg has broken into four parts

In recent years, with the intensification of global warming, more and more icebergs on the Antarctic ice shelf have broken off and drifted to the temperate regions, which will not only increase the sea water, but also cause the sea level to rise, and also cause the sea water salinity to decrease. , the short-term decrease in seawater temperature not only threatens the local ecosystem, but also has a chain reaction impact on the entire ocean and even the terrestrial ecosystem. How to solve global warming in the future requires our joint efforts!