Delaware-sized iceberg could collide with island in South Atlantic this month

An iceberg the size of Delaware could collide with a South Atlantic island this month, according to the government of South Georgia.

The iceberg dubbed “A68a” is estimated by NASA to be roughly the size of the state of Delaware and broke away from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica in 2017, NBC News reported.

We are keeping a close eye on the A68a iceberg as it drifts through #SouthGeorgia waters. These shots taken from a @RoyalAirForce A400M aircraft provide a unique view. It was so huge it was impossible to capture its entirety in a single shot! #SGSSIdiscover pic.twitter.com/nX8ToUfQP9

— Government SGSSI (@GovSGSSI) December 5, 2020

According to a social media post from the government-official account of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), the photos taken from a British Royal Air Force A400M could not capture the entire vastness of the drifting ice mass.

“The sheer size of the A68a iceberg means it is impossible to capture its entirety in one single shot,” British officials said in a statement.

The Royal Air Force has been working closely with the government to keep track of the roughly 4,200-square-km iceberg, conducting a reconnaissance mission over the mass and capturing photos of its size and scale.

The Sandwich Islands are around the size of Rhode Island and are part of U.K. overseas territory nearly 800 miles southeast of the Falkland Islands.

We now have VIDEO of that @RoyalAirForce reconnaissance flight over #iceberg #A68a. There are some mighty fissures, and the sea around the berg is littered with bits and bobs. Watchout South Georgia! Read more: https://t.co/0hJP5fDdJ5 pic.twitter.com/MOWUWMuwZg

— Jonathan Amos (@BBCAmos) December 8, 2020

BBC News reported the iceberg is only 150 kilometers from the territory, calling the large ice mass the “world’s biggest iceberg.”

If it collides with the islands, there is less concern for human impact and more worries by scientists the effect could threaten the wildlife ecosystem and animals’ access to food.

Animals such as large populations of whales, seals and penguins feed off South Georgia’s coast.

“Ecosystems can and will bounce back of course, but there’s a danger here that if this iceberg gets stuck, it could be there for 10 years. An iceberg has massive implications for where land-based predators might be able to forage,” said Professor Geraint Tarling, an ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey told NBC.