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Once king of the seas, a giant iceberg is finally breaking up

A23a iceberg, once nearly 1 trillion tonnes and over 3,600 sq km, has lost 80% of its mass due to warmer waters and currents, accelerating its final breakup.

  • The iceberg known as A23a is breaking apart in warmer waters and could disappear within weeks, nearly 40 years after it calved from Antarctica and was one of the largest recorded icebergs.
  • A23a initially weighed under a trillion tonnes and is now less than half its original size, with substantial chunks breaking off, including some 400 square kilometers each.
  • According to Andrew Meijers, a physical oceanographer from the British Antarctic Survey, A23a is 'breaking up fairly dramatically' due to warm water, suggesting it won't be identifiable soon.
  • Scientists were 'surprised' by how long A23a had lasted, as most icebergs do not survive such conditions, and it is now expected to disappear completely soon.
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It was as big as the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca – but now the world's largest iceberg is crumbling at raging speed. Soon the A23a will probably be quite a story. The size of the iceberg is almost unimaginable: the A23a weighed almost a trillion tons and had an area of 3672 square kilometers. In recent weeks, however, huge chunks broke down and the ice giant shrunk tremendously – by about 400 square kilometers. "Water is far too warm" Res…

·Vienna, Austria
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IBTimes broke the news in United States on Tuesday, September 2, 2025.
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