One of the scientists said that strong currents changed the course of a huge iceberg that was on a collision course with a colony of penguins in the southern Atlantic Ocean and lost a large part of its size, and the scientist Gerint Tarling, professor of oceanography at the British Antarctic Survey, followed the movement of the iceberg, and said that The mountain, named A68A, was to collide with South Georgia Island, which is located off South America.
The island is one of the British overseas territories and is home to wildlife inhabited by penguins, seals and albatross birds, and Tarling stated that the glacier faced strong currents that made it rotate almost 180 degrees as it approached the edge of the western cliff of the island last week.
On Friday, Tarling said, “It was as if a turn of the iceberg resulted from raising the handbrake because the currents were very strong.” The iceberg appeared to rub against the edge of the cliff, causing the separation of a large part of it that scientists called (A68D).
For weeks, scientists have been watching the huge glacier whose area was 4,200 square kilometers and was being swept away by a fast current towards the island, and researchers had feared the glacier colliding with the sea floor as it approached the island rich in wildlife and the impact of this on underwater ecosystems. They were also concerned that the glacier might prevent the penguins from making their way to the sea to get food.
The A68A ice mass separated from Antarctica in 2017.
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