4/10/2023 0 Comments Penguin on iceberg![]() ![]() Up to the end of the 20th century, the Larsen Ice Shelf had been stable for more than 10,000 years. ![]() "The amount of ice going from the center of the Antarctic continent out towards the edges is increasing in speed," Tarling said. Up to a kilometer thick, icebergs are the solid-ice extension of land-bound glaciers. They naturally break off from ice shelves as snow-laden glaciers push toward the sea.īut global warming has increased the frequency of this process, known as calving. "Over hundreds of years, this iceberg has accumulated a lot of nutrients and dust, and they are starting to leach out and fertilize the oceans." The incoming iceberg would also crush organisms and their seafloor ecosystem, which would need decades or centuries to recover.Ĭarbon stored by these organisms would be released into the ocean and atmosphere, adding to carbon emissions caused by human activity, the researchers said.Īs A68a drifted with currents across the South Atlantic, the iceberg did a great job of distributing microscopic edibles for the ocean's tiniest creatures, said Tarling. "Global numbers of penguins and seals would drop by a large margin," Geraint Tarling, also from the British Antarctic Survey, told AFP in an interview. Read also: First ever heatwave recorded in Antarctica If the iceberg runs aground next to South Georgia, foraging routes could be blocked, hampering the ability of penguin parents to feed their young, and thus threatening the survival of seal pups and penguin chicks. ![]() Seals also populate South Georgia, as do wandering albatrosses, the largest bird species that can fly. ![]()
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