One of the largest and oldest icebergs scientists have ever seen has turned blue and is “on the brink of complete disintegration,” NASA said Thursday.
A23An enormous wall of ice twice the size of Rhode Island, drenched in blue meltwater, is drifting in the South Atlantic off the eastern tip of South America, NASA said. news release.
A NASA satellite captured an image of the disappearing berg the day after Christmas, showing pools of blue water on its surface. A day later, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped a photo showing a closer view of the iceberg, with an even larger melt pool.
NASA 
The satellite image suggests that A23a has also “created a leak,” NASA said, as the weight of the water that accumulated on top of the berg punctured the ice.
Scientists say all signs point to the so-called “megaberg” being just days or weeks away from completely disintegrating, with currents pushing it into even warmer waters. Warmer air temperatures during this season could accelerate the disappearance of A23a in what ice experts have called the iceberg’s “graveyard”.
“I certainly do not expect the A-23A to survive the austral summer,” retired University of Maryland, Baltimore County scientist Chris Shuman said in a statement.
The blue and white linear patterns visible on A23a are likely related to striations, which were scoured hundreds of years ago when the iceberg was part of the Antarctic bedrock, NASA said.
NASA 
“Striations formed parallel to the direction of flow, ultimately creating subtle ridges and valleys on the top of the iceberg that direct the flow of meltwater today,” said Walt Meier, a senior researcher at the National Snow & Ice Data Center.
When Berga left Antarctica in 1986, it was about 4,000 square kilometers and housed a Soviet research station. It remained stuck for more than 30 years before finally being released in 2020, its long journey north delayed by oceanic forces keeping it spinning in place.
In 2023, the British Antarctic Survey published a time-lapse of satellite imagesshowing the movement of the iceberg. In January 2025, a collision course with a colony of penguins in the distance but fortunately it was unaffected.
Last summer, a number of large chunks of ice broke up when traveling the A23 in relatively warm summer conditions. according to current estimates According to the US National Ice Center, in early January 2026, the berg’s area is 1,182 square kilometers — still larger than New York City but a fraction of its original size.
“I’m incredibly grateful that we’ve had satellite resources that have allowed us to track it and document its evolution so closely,” Shuman said. “A-23A faces the same fate as other Antarctic bergs, but its path has been incredibly long and bumpy. It’s hard to believe it won’t be with us much longer.”