"Research ship captures incredible encounter with world's largest iceberg drifting out of Antarctica"
The RRS Sir David Attenborough, a British polar research ship, had an "incredibly lucky" encounter with the world's largest iceberg, A23a, as it drifted out of Antarctic waters. The ship's crew collected seawater samples around the colossal iceberg, which had been grounded for over three decades before recently starting to drift. The iceberg, equivalent to three times the size of New York City, is now likely to be swept along into "iceberg alley" towards South Georgia. Scientists hope to study the impact of icebergs on carbon and nutrient cycles in the ocean to better understand climate change's effects on the Southern Ocean.