David Attenborough research ship’s ‘incredibly lucky’ encounter with world’s largest iceberg as it drifts out of Antarctica

The RSS Sir David Attenborough encountered the world’s largest iceberg as it drifted away from Antarctica for the first time in 37 years.

The ship passed the A23a iceberg, which is roughly three times the size of New York City, on Friday 1 December as it floated in the Southern Ocean.

“It is incredibly lucky that the iceberg’s route out of the Weddell Sea sat directly across our planned path,” said the ship’s chief scientist, Dr Andrew Meijers.

The remarkably lucky encounter allowed scientists to collect seawater samples around the mega iceberg.