The world's first sovereign iceberg nation.
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A23a breaks off from the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The massive chunk of ice takes the Soviet research station Druzhnaya I along with it.
Unwilling to lose their equipment, the Soviet Union launches a rescue operation. A crew lands on the drifting iceberg, salvages the base's gear, and relocates operations — renaming it Druzhnaya III.
Nearly 900–1,300 feet deep, the trillion-ton iceberg's base hits the seafloor and becomes grounded in the shallow southern Weddell Sea — an artificial ice island for over 30 years.
After decades of gradual bottom-melting and battering by ocean currents, A23a finally loses its grip on the seabed. It begins to rotate and slowly nudge into a northward drift.
Joel Cohen declares A23a, a micronation. The drift accelerates. A23a shoots past the Antarctic Peninsula and enters “Iceberg Alley.” At roughly 1,500 sq miles — four times the size of New York City — it claims the title of world’s largest active iceberg.
As it heads into the South Atlantic, the berg is ensnared by a Taylor column — a rotating vortex of water over the underwater Pirie Bank seamount. It spins counterclockwise in place for months.
After escaping the vortex, A23a drifts toward South Georgia Island. Its massive underwater keel runs aground again, briefly halting its progress just 45 miles off the island’s coast.
Warm South Atlantic waters take their toll. A23a breaks loose, drifts north, and fractures into massive sister bergs. By early 2026, satellite data shows deep-blue meltwater pools marking the rapid, ultimate collapse of the main structure.
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