A giant 39-year-old iceberg is melting off the coast of Antarctica.

A giant iceberg that broke off Antarctica 39 years ago, at the time the largest in the world, is melting in warmer waters, scientists say.

At the beginning of the year, the ice block named A23a weighed about 1 billion tons and covered almost 4,000 km², that is, 50% more than the surface area of ​​Luxembourg.

But as it moved north, and therefore to less cold regions of the Southern Ocean, large pieces broke off.

Its current size is 1,770 km², with a width reaching 60 km, according to an AFP analysis based on satellite images from the European Copernicus service.

"I would say it's really coming to an end (...) It's simply deteriorating from the ground up. The water is too warm for it to survive. It's steadily melting," Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, told AFP.

“I expect this to continue for the next few weeks, and in a few weeks he will be unrecognizable,” he added.

A23a broke off from the continent in 1986 before running aground in the Weddell Sea, where it remained attached to the seafloor for more than three decades. In 2020, it began moving again, dragged like other icebergs by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.

In March 2025, it ran aground again, near South Georgia, when it raised fears that it would threaten the livelihood of penguins and seals.

The iceberg ended its journey around the island and gained speed as the strong waves and less cold waters of this ocean wore it down.

Scientists were "surprised" that it had lasted so long. "Most icebergs don't make it that far," as they are "doomed" once they leave the protection of the Antarctic climate, Meijers added.

The formation of icebergs is a natural process, and scientists estimate that the rate at which Antarctica produces them has increased, likely due to climate change caused by human activities.

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