First major chunk breaks off world's biggest iceberg

An enormous chunk has broken off the world's largest iceberg, in a possible first sign, the behemoth from Antarctica, could be crumbling, scientists told on Friday.

The colossal iceberg  which is more than twice the size of Greater London and weighs nearly one trillion tonnes  had largely stayed intact since it started slowly moving north in 2020. The jagged piece has an area of roughly 80 square kilometers, huge in its own right, but just a fraction of the approximately 3360 square kilometres that remained.

Known as A23a, the world's biggest and oldest iceberg calved from the Antarctic shelf in 1986. British Antarctic Survey said its trajectory toward South Georgia, a crucial feeding ground for seals and penguins, would unlikely change because it had lost this chunk.