Megaberg A23a, the world's largest iceberg, might be on the verge of running into South Georgia and surrounding islands in the South Atlantic. The result could spell trouble for wildlife on those islands, and A23a's movement is a predictor of further similar occurrences as climate change worsens.
The iceberg is approximately 1,500 square miles in size and located about 173 miles from the islands. If A23a grounds and wedges in the waters close to the islands, it "stands to endanger millions of penguins, seals and rare marine species not found anywhere else on Earth", said Science Alert. Specifically, the iceberg would block the animals' abilities to feed themselves and their young, which would lead to mass deaths.
Despite the warnings, icebergs are notoriously unpredictable. There is a chance the iceberg will not even collide with South Georgia. "It could avoid the shelf and get carried into open water beyond South Georgia," said The Guardian. "Or it could strike the sloping bottom, getting stuck for months or breaking up into pieces."
The region is known as "iceberg alley," so it is no stranger to the behemoths, but that does not mean there is no cause for concern. "This iceberg is a natural phenomenon, but it really does represent an increase in the ice loss of Antarctic ice shelves," Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, told Yahoo News. "Since 2020, the ice shelves have lost six trillion tons of ice ... that's due to climate change." | 
