The study's lead author Anne Braakmann-Folgmann said in a statement that the berg released a "huge amount of melt water." She told CBS News that it's too early to say what the specific impact of A68A will be, but that generally, cold freshwater from icebergs changes the physical properties of ocean water around it, and releases nutrients that can "foster biological production." Observing the disintegration of the A68A iceberg from space Trajectory of A68A and historic icebergs overlain on a bathymetric map. A grounded iceberg can also disrupt ocean currents and making it difficult for the island's penguins to feed in the sea, researchers said. It is possible, however, that other icebergs could end up grounded in the area in the future, which could potentially destroy organisms that reside on the seafloor. While A68A did not ground itself on the seafloor, researchers aid, it's likely that it did hit the floor in some of the shallower areas as it turned, and is believed to have affected "only a small area." Researchers found, however, that the closest the iceberg got to the island was about 38.5 miles offshore in December 2020. One of the concerns observers had was that the iceberg would collide with the seafloor near the island. This significant loss could result in "potentially impacting the island's rich ecosystem," the study says. That amount of water could fill roughly 61 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. In the time it's been around South Georgia, researchers found, the iceberg released roughly 152 billion tons of fresh water and nutrients into the ocean over the course of about three months.
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