After spinning in a vortex for months, the world's largest and oldest iceberg is moving again.

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey announced on Friday that the large iceberg, designated A23a, is floating in the southern Ocean. The iceberg's journey provides a great opportunity for scientists to study how giant icebergs affect their surrounding ecosystems.

"It's exciting to see A23a moving again after periods of being stuck. We're interested to see if it takes the same route that other large icebergs take off Antarctica," Andrew Meijers, an oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey, says the British Antarctic Survey. statement"And more importantly how it affects the local ecosystem."

The A23a weighs almost a trillion tons, and, as of August, covered 1,418-square-miles (3,672 square kilometers), making it twice the size of Greater London, or slightly larger than Rhode Island, according to CNN. It has repeatedly claimed the title of the world's largest iceberg, surpassing several major contenders.

A23a is isolated from the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica in 1986 as a result of natural processes, but almost immediately drifted to the sea floor north of the South Orkney Islands. In 2020, it broke free and floated in the Weddell Sea until it became trapped in the Taylor Column, an oceanic phenomenon that traps drifting objects in underwater mountains of water vortices.

DO YOU WANT TO BE FREE!?

Well, you are not alone – Iceberg #A23athe largest and oldest in the world #icebergit's working!

Find out how it escaped 👇https://t.co/MQHd8TfVSL pic.twitter.com/G3J0U2KfFz

— British Antarctic Survey 🐧 (@BAS_News) December 13, 2024

The A23a just escaped the swirling water that kept it in place, according to BAS. Scientists expect the iceberg to drift along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current into warmer waters around the island of South Georgia, where it will likely break into countless smaller pieces and eventually melt.

A year ago, researchers from the British Antarctic Survey observed A23a while studying the polar ecosystem of the Weddell Sea for BIOPOLE project. From RRS Sir David Attenborough research vessel, they photographed the huge iceberg and collected samples from the waters near it.

"We know that these giant icebergs can provide nutrients to the waters they pass through, creating thriving ecosystems in less productive areas. What we don't know is how the particular ones differ icebergs, their size, and their origin can play a role in that process," said Laura Taylor, a biogeochemist at BIOPOLE.

"We took samples of the surface waters behind, immediately adjacent to, and ahead of the iceberg's route," he added. "They should help us figure out what life could have formed around A23a and how it would affect carbon in the oceans and its balance in the atmosphere."

It remains to be seen how long A23a will remain the world's largest iceberg, and what ocean travel will reveal about Antarctic marine ecosystems. I feel like I've just hit the tip of the literal iceberg!