Andrew Myers
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
This iceberg, A23, broke off from the Ronnie Ice Shelf. So that's the very southern point of the Weddell Sea, which is sort of at the very bottom part of the Atlantic. And it broke off back in 1986, but very quickly just got stuck. Until in 2020, when it broke loose and then started drifting northwards.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
We actually encountered it just as it was moving into the ocean that circles around Antarctica. It went north in what's called Iceberg Alley, where icebergs usually go to die. But then it encountered an unusual oceanographic feature called a Taylor Column. It's basically a swirling wall of water that moves around and around over a subterranean mountain.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
And A23 was stuck there since April this year. just going in circles. But just in the last two weeks, we've been monitoring it with satellites and it has broken loose and it's heading north again out into the open ocean.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
So it's not a climate change story per se, no. So icebergs breaking off from the Antarctic ice shelf is completely normal with what ice shelves do. They're basically slide down the Antarctic continents until they encounter the ocean and then break off and float away. But what is relevant here is that this has been happening at a greater rate. So it's sort of like the wildfire stories.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
Wildfires are completely normal, but their rates at which they happen are increasing across the world. And it's the same with icebergs and iceberg carving. So you can't say any individual carving or any individual iceberg is climate change. But the rate at which we see them is definitely going up.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
Yeah, it's about twice the size of Greater London. So it's the sort of thing you should be able to see coming. And the ocean around Antarctica is not massively populated. And the people who are there really know their business. So they shouldn't sneak up on anyone.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
So I mentioned before iceberg alleys. So it's this sort of pathway that comes out of the Weddell Sea, sort of northwards across the Antarctic circumpolar current. And that's the direction we figure that this iceberg will take. It will head northeastwards, sort of towards Africa.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
And on the way, it will encounter the beautiful island of South Georgia, on which there's many millions of penguins and seals. So it does pose a potential threat to them in that it may run aground near the island and basically get in their way.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
They have a very specific path they take from their breeding colonies on the beaches out into their feeding grounds and having a huge iceberg in the way means they have to go a lot further and expend a lot more energy which is typically bad news for their pups and chicks ashore.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds, possibly thousands, feared dead in Mayotte cyclone
Still to come... It will head north-eastwards and on the way it will encounter the beautiful island of South Georgia on which there's many millions of penguins and seals. It does pose a potential threat to them.