By Daniel Wu
Nearly 400 miles off the coast of Antarctica, the Earth’s largest iceberg — whose sprawling surface covers more than 1,600 square miles — is spinning like a top.
The iceberg, dubbed A23a, is caught in the churn of a powerful ocean current and revolving slowly, at a rate of around 15 degrees per day, according to the British Antarctic Survey, which shared images of the twirling iceberg on social media set to the Kylie Minogue song “Spinning Around.”
The slow-motion dance is the latest act in a decades-long journey that A23a embarked on after splitting from Antarctica in 1986. It is also staving off the iceberg’s demise. The frigid Southern Ocean vortex that A23a is caught in is slowing the iceberg’s journey north to warmer waters, where most icebergs in the region eventually drift before disintegrating, scientists told The Washington Post.
“The iceberg and the ocean are doing a cooperative dance,” said Douglas MacAyeal, a glaciologist at the University of Chicago.