Gliders Probe Huge Iceberg's Impact on Penguin Island's Ecosystem
Two gliders were deployed near the A-68a iceberg near South Georgia. (Photo: Povl Abrahamsen / BAS)
For the next four months, robotic submersible vehicles will swim the frigid, choppy waters around South Georgia island, gathering evidence to determine whether a massive Antarctic iceberg might have harmed wildlife there, scientists said Wednesday.
The iceberg, known as A68a, approached the South Atlantic island as a single block of more than 4,000 square kilometers in December, then began breaking into enormous chunks that have since swirled around the island on counter-clockwise currents.
Even broken up, A68a and its baby bergs could still disrupt the local environment, said Geraint Tarling, an ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The largest chunk now covers almost 900 square kilometers, about the same size as the Scottish island of Mull.