BROADCASTS.com

The current record holder for the world\u2019s biggest iceberg is the A23a. Back in 1986 this colossus broke away from an Antarctic ice sheet. This process of breaking off or \u2018calving\u2019 as it is known is a natural part of the life cycle of an ice sheet. But A23a then became lodged in the Weddell Sea for more than thirty years, until four years ago a gradual melting allowed the berg to refloat.

Since then it\u2019s been steadily on the move, heading in the same direction as Antarctic icebergs before it, towards the warm waters of the Southern Ocean, where it will eventually shrink from melting.

As it travels, the iceberg has been playing an important role on the ecological environment around it, both in positive and negative ways. \nSo, on this week on The Inquiry, we\u2019re asking \u2018What can the world\u2019s biggest iceberg tell us?\u2019

Contributors: \nDr. Catherine Walker, Glaciologist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, USA \nDr. Oliver Marsh, Glaciologist, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK \nJemma Wadham, Professor of Glaciology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway \nChristopher Shuman, Research Associate Professor, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, Maryland, USA

Presenter: William Crawley \nProducer: Jill Collins \nResearcher: Katie Morgan \nEditor: Tara McDermott \nProduction Co-ordinator: Ellie Dover

Image Credit: A23a in Antarctica, Jan 2024. Rob Suisted/Reuters/via BBC Images