An iceberg the size of Rhode Island grazed a small island that could disrupt local wildlife and ecosystems including preventing penguins from foraging.Get a daily digest of the latest news in tech, science, and technology, delivered right to your mailbox. Subscribe now.
On September 6, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer sensor aboard NASA's satellite photographed D-30A near the border of Clarence Island.nearing the island's southeastern coast in late August, making contact and subsequently circling the island during the initial two weeks of September. By the end of September, the iceberg had shifted away from the island and drifted northward.
However, the negative effects could prevent penguins from foraging. The island inhabits over 100,000 breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins. “Luckily, because the seafloor drops away steeply on the east of the island, the scouring damage from the D-30A impact will have been localized.”