A frozen block of ice far bigger than Greater London is captured in a vast pool of rotating water.

Something remarkable has happened to A23a, the world’s biggest iceberg.

For months now it has been spinning on the spot just north of Antarctica when really it should be racing along with Earth’s most powerful ocean current.

Scientists say the frozen block, which is more than twice the size of Greater London, has been captured on top of a huge rotating cylinder of water.

It’s a phenomenon oceanographers call a Taylor Column - and it’s possible A23a might not escape its jailer for years.

  • Flying SquidMEnglish
    32•3 months ago

    Icebergs are measured in international paper sizes.

      • Flying SquidMEnglish
        11•3 months ago

        DO NOT QUESTION MY BRILLIANCE!

        (I have no idea, I’m a dum 'murcan and we measure our paper in stupid units.)

      • @A_AEnglish
        9•3 months ago
        Size Width (mm) Height (mm) Width (in) Height (in)
        A0 841 1189 33.1 46.7
        A1 594 841 23.4 33.1
        A2 420 594 16.5 23.4
        A3 297 420 11.7 16.5
        A4 210 297 8.3 11.7

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_216

        • @[email protected]English
          8•3 months ago

          I take that as a yes. Also isn’t it cool that you can copy and paste a formatted table?

          • @A_AEnglish
            3•3 months ago

            Yes indeed !
            N.B. : Earlier versions Lemmy did not allow to post tables, it is known as markdown table format.