The world's largest iceberg threatens thousands of penguins in the South Atlantic.

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Julia Gregory / Magnus New / SIPA

Endangered penguins.

The world's largest iceberg could strike a remote island in the South Atlantic, which is also home to thousands of penguins and seals.

The latter would then risk no longer being able to feed themselves properly, warn scientists.

Global warming has accelerated the unhooking of Antarctic icebergs, in this case with potentially devastating consequences for the abundant wildlife found on the British island of South Georgia.

A giant of a trillion tons

This iceberg, called A68, is a giant of a trillion tons that broke off in July 2017 from the Larsen C ice shelf, stuck to the Antarctic Peninsula.

At the speed at which it is currently drifting, it will take 20 to 30 days to reach the shallow waters around the islands.

With a dimension of 160 kilometers long and 48 wide, but less than 200 meters deep, the mega-iceberg could come dangerously close to the coast.

“The probability of a collision is 50/50,” says Andrew Fleming of the British Antarctic Survey.

Several thousand king penguins live on the island, alongside golden penguins, chinstrap penguins and gentoo penguins.

Seals and Wandering Albatrosses are also present in South Georgia.

Endangered baby seals and penguins

If the iceberg runs aground near the island, it could undermine the ability of adult birds to feed their young, threatening their survival, but also that of baby seals.

"The number of penguins and seals could drop sharply," says Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic Survey.

The iceberg could also disrupt the ecosystem of the seabed, which could take decades or even centuries to recover.

The carbon retained in these organisms could be released into the ocean and the atmosphere, adding to CO2 emissions caused by human activities, the researchers say.

Antarctica victim of global warming

Moreover, “this iceberg has accumulated over hundreds of years a lot of nutrients and dust, which are released little by little and fertilize the oceans,” adds Geraint Tarling.

The formation of icebergs is a natural process, which the warming of the air and the oceans, however, helps to accelerate, stress the scientists.

However, western Antarctica is one of the regions of the globe warming the most rapidly, under the effect of global climate change generated by human activities.

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