In December, reports warned that a 1,620-square-mile iceberg, which came off the Antarctic Peninsula, was underway to collide with South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. With this, the scientists feared, he would crush corals, sponges and plankton on the seabed and also isolate seals and penguins from their normal hunting grounds, forcing them to take long and dangerous detours. It turns out that Wall Street Newspaper reports, “warmer water and current torque have shattered” the iceberg, known as A68a, into a dozen pieces, which look like they will float further north and miss South Georgia Island.
If that is the case, penguins and seals will be spared the collision, and drifting icebergs can cause more problems for humans, possibly obstructing shipping routes. Still, there are significant risks to marine life, the daily reports. As icebergs melt, there would be an influx of fresh cold water into the ocean, potentially killing phytoplankton and unbalancing the food chain. Without phytoplankton, the krill that feeds on them would starve, which in turn would lead to “depletion of populations” of fish, seals, penguins and whales.
A British Antarctic Survey research team is on its way to study the effects that icebergs have on the region’s marine ecology and to get an idea of what to expect if more icebergs break free from the Antarctic ice shelf amid rising global temperatures . “Everyone is doing everything they can to make this happen,” Povl Abrahamsen, oceanographer and research team leader, told daily. Read more at Wall Street Newspaper.
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