Andrew Meyers, a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey’s polar ocean team, explained that Glacier A23a is moving northward toward warmer waters, which will speed up its melting process, according to a report by Anadolu Agency.
“This will significantly accelerate the melting as ocean temperatures rise with the southern hemisphere entering summer. Previously, massive glaciers have broken into smaller pieces near South Georgia, and this glacier is about a month away from reaching that area,” Meyers stated.
He also noted that it is not uncommon for glaciers to travel much farther north, sometimes nearing South Africa.
Glacier A23a spans an area of 3,800 square kilometers and is 400 meters thick.
This glacier originally broke off from Antarctica in 1986 but quickly became lodged near the coast.
Its massive thickness caused it to ground on the seafloor of the Weddell Sea, a section of the Southern Ocean, where it remained stationary for over 30 years.
The glacier began drifting northward again in 2020 but became stuck once more earlier this year, trapped in a whirlpool near the South Orkney Islands during the spring.
