Mega iceberg threatens thousands of penguins

Experts had predicted that B15A — a 100-mile long iceberg — would likely slam into a huge glacier near the US McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica some time last weekend.

But the iceberg appeared to have run aground about three miles from the 60-mile long glacier, known as the Drygalski Ice Tongue, Antarctica New Zealand's science strategy manager, Dean Peterson, said Thursday. "This berg has wedged itself between two shallow areas. ...It really hasn't gotten any closer for a week now," Peterson said.

"It's kind of shimmying back and forth now... so I don't know whether it's ever going to get to the Drygalski or not."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/998004.cms

(Antarctica-NBC) Jan. 19, 2005 - A massive iceberg is threatening to collide with a glacier off the coast of Antarctica.

The 100-mile long iceberg known as B-15 has been heading at a speed of more than a mile a day toward the huge glacier in the sea near the US McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica.

Access to the ocean has been cut-off by the iceberg for 3000 breeding pairs of penguins, forcing them to make a 100-mile round trip to get food to chicks at their nesting grounds.

The 'berg has caused the nearby sea ice to crack, an annual process scientists say may have been accelerated by the presence of the iceberg.

The iceberg is also an obstacle for ships headed to and from McMurdo Station.

Experts say B-15 contains enough water to fill the Nile River for more than 80 years.

http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2829049