The World’s Largest Iceberg Is Falling Apart (Video)

Previously, A23a had broken free from Antarctica. The “megaberg,” as it has been dubbed, was swirling around the Southern Ocean, on a path towards South Georgia Island, a sovereign state of the United Kingdom. Now, the iceberg has come to a stop. And as the seasons change, and summer approaches in in the Southern Hemisphere, A23a is calving.

As Ted Scambos, an Ice Scientist with the University of Colorado, told the Associated Press:

“The largest floating iceberg on earth, the iceberg A23a, is drifting near South Georgia Island. That’s an island between Africa and South America, near the southern tip of both those continents. And it’s beginning to break apart.”

This is nothing new, however, as Scambos added:

“It’s an area that icebergs often visit just before they break apart. It’s on a drift track from the Antarctic.”

The iceberg actually broke free from Antarctica some 40 years ago. But it has been stuck in the currents of the area, before it broke free, and began its path northbound. As for the calving of the incomprehensibly massive hunk of ice, Scambos said:

“Right now, the iceberg is breaking apart into big pieces. It’s still quite cold, because it’s still winter. But as summer in the Southern Hemisphere comes on – November, December, January – we’re going to see more and more melting on this iceberg.

“What happens is the upper part of the berg will saturate with water, and then shatter. As the water drives through the iceberg, it cracks it into thousands of pieces. Then, very suddenly, it collapses onto the ocean surface…like a floating avalanche.”

Surfing calving glaciers is one of the most novelty experiences out there. But surfing the waves from the world’s largest glacier? That’s next level.

Dylan Graves? Ben Gravy? Any takers?