By Sze Wing Ng<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The A23a iceberg is famously known as the largest iceberg in the world, proven by visible data and thermal imagery. It has a surface area of 3,500 square kilometres, twice the size of Greater London, and reaches 40 metres above sea level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its history dates back around 40 years to 1986, according to EUMETSAT, when it calved (broke away from a larger ice mass) from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in Antarctica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2025, it ran aground and became stuck on the seabed near the island of South Georgia, after being carried by strong ocean currents from the icy Antarctic waters into warmer seas. This caused the iceberg to begin melting more quickly, and it is now starting to break apart and disintegrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trapped in the ocean<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the BBC, A23a is thought to be the oldest iceberg currently being tracked by scientists using satellites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During its journey, the iceberg escaped two places where it became trapped. The first was a giant rotating vortex of water called a Taylor Column (a spinning column of water that can trap objects in one place). The iceberg remained spinning in this current for eight months near the South Orkney Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later, it became trapped again near South Georgia Island, where it remained stuck for several months before eventually breaking free. It was after this point that the iceberg began to melt more rapidly and break apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How it is doing now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As of 2026, the size of the A23a iceberg has shrunk dramatically compared to 2025. Its surface area is now around 1,182 square kilometres, nearly half its previous size, according to NASA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This rapid change is partly linked to the iceberg beginning to drift more freely in the ocean. According to RTE, the iceberg spent its first 30 years grounded on the seabed and remained fairly intact. It only began to move in 2020, slowly drifting northwards towards warmer waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it moves closer towards the equator, the warmer ocean temperatures cause the iceberg to melt faster than before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2025, EUMETSAT had already predicted that the iceberg would begin to break up, based on satellite data and observations. Scientists now believe that A23a may only have a few weeks to a few months left before it completely melts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does this tell us about climate change?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Events like this are becoming more frequent, showing how climate change and global warming are continuing to affect the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ice shelves (large floating sections of ice attached to land) help keep Antarctic ice sheets stable. However, as seawater temperatures rise due to global warming, these ice shelves can weaken and eventually collapse. This can contribute to rising sea levels and increase the risk of extreme weather events such as flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To help minimise the damage caused by climate change, raising awareness about the issue is important. Encouraging people in our communities to live more sustainably can also help reduce the long-term impact on the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sze Wing Ng History The A23a iceberg is famously known as the largest iceberg in the world, proven by visible data and thermal imagery. It has a surface area of 3,500 square kilometres, twice the size of Greater London, and reaches 40 metres above sea level. Its history dates back around 40 years to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,42],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-news","8":"category-sciencetech","10":"post-with-thumbnail","11":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",10562,7354,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",10562,7354,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",10562,7354,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",150,104,false],"medium":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",300,209,false],"large":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",720,501,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",1536,1069,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",2048,1426,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",546,380,false],"vantage-thumbnail-no-sidebar":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",546,380,false],"vantage-slide":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",689,480,false],"vantage-carousel":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",261,182,false],"vantage-grid-loop":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",391,272,false],"menu-24x24":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",24,17,false],"menu-36x36":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",36,25,false],"menu-48x48":["https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AdobeStock_158665720.jpeg",48,33,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Mr Charlton","author_link":false},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"News<\/a> Science & Tech<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Sze Wing Ng History The A23a iceberg is famously known as the largest iceberg in the world, proven by visible data and thermal imagery. It has a surface area of 3,500 square kilometres, twice the size of Greater London, and reaches 40 metres above sea level. Its history dates back around 40 years to…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4602,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4600\/revisions\/4602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveritastimes.sapriory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}