Iceberg A23A calved from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf on the northwestern side of Antarctica in 1986. Forty years later, it is finally disappearing, and rapidly. This true-color corrected reflectance image captured on Jan. 13, 2026, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the Aqua platform shows the iceberg melting, turning blue, and breaking apart in the South Atlantic between the eastern tip of South America and South Georgia island.
Above is a comparison of a MODIS Terra image from Jan. 7, 2026, on the left "A" side, with a MODIS Aqua image from Jan. 13, 2026, on the right "B" side. The Jan. 7 image shows blue melt ponds on the surface of the iceberg. Less than a week later, on Jan. 13, the image shows the iceberg disintegrating and breaking into smaller pieces surrounded by ice melange. Swipe the slider to the left and right to compare the images from the two dates. Learn more about the iceberg in NASA Earth Observatory's Image of the Day article "Meltwater Turns Iceberg A-23A Blue."
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