Antarctica again 2024 再访南极

Iceberg A23a was off from the Antarctica Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf 38 years ago in 1986, but soon stuck on seabed for many years until 2020 when it started moving. It measures about 3,900 sq km, more than 5 times of Singapore in size. Its world number one title was once surpassed by iceberg A76a with area 4,300 sq km measurement. After A76a later broke into smaller pieces, A23a regained its title.
In Dec 2022 during another Antarctica trip I had the opportunity observing iceberg A76a.
According to birds and whale experts of the expedition team, it is quite common that those large icebergs can bring rich nutrients such as algae at the ice bottom, attracting krill which is the favourite of snow petrels and whales. Thus whales and snow petrels often gather around large icebergs.
A23a号冰山于38年前在1986年脱离菲尔希内尔-龙讷冰架而成，脱离后不久就因底部接触海底被困多年，直至2020年才开始移动。它的面积达3,900平方公里，为板状，是新加坡面积的五倍还多。它的世界最大漂浮体的名头曾被A76a冰山以4,300平方公里面积之巨短暂超越。A76a碎裂为多个小块之后，A23a再次成为世界第一。
2022年12月底在另一次去南极行程途中我曾有机会观察过A76a。
据探险队鸟类和鲸鱼专家介绍，这样的大型冰山通常会在它的底部携带大量微生物如藻类，为磷虾提供优质营养，而磷虾是雪海燕和鲸鱼喜爱的食物。这样在大冰山附近会有鲸鱼和雪海燕出没。Читать далее