Trillion-Tonne Iceberg is Stuck Spinning in the South Atlantic [Video]

When the world’s largest iceberg drifted away from an Antarctic ice shelf in 2020, it was not expected to last long. Strong circumpolar currents would carry it up into the Atlantic, where it would melt away and break up. However, that did not happen – because it got stuck in a rare ocean vortex, and its slow, once-a-month orbit is not taking it anywhere. 

A23a has been saying a long goodbye to Antarctica since the 1980s, when it was part of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and served as a home for a Soviet research base. In 1986, it broke off from the shelf and began to drift off into the Weddell Sea, taking the research station with it. The berg ran aground almost immediately, and a rescue mission safely recovered the scientists. 

A23a stayed aground in the Weddell Sea for more than three decades. In 2020, it finally refloated and …