Overview
- NASA’s Terra satellite imaged extensive surface meltwater on December 26, 2025, followed by an ISS photo on December 27 showing an even larger melt pool and prominent striations.
- Researchers say a raised rim, or rampart‑moat, is trapping meltwater that is forcing open cracks and likely caused a blowout visible as a pale patch and possible freshwater plume.
- Scientists estimate the waterlogged iceberg is likely to break apart within days to weeks as it drifts toward warmer South Atlantic waters off South America and South Georgia.
- Experts link the accelerated weakening to Southern Hemisphere summer conditions, with warmer air and ocean temperatures hastening fragmentation in a known iceberg “graveyard.”
- A‑23A calved from the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf in 1986 and, after decades grounded in the Weddell Sea, began a northward drift in the early 2020s that included multiple large breakups in 2025.