Russian explorer tells story of polar station carried away by loose iceberg 40 years ago

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Antarctica’s A23a iceberg, which fully disintegrated on Tuesday while drifting in the ocean, carried away the Druzhnaya Antarctic research station 40 years ago, famous Russian adventurer Fyodor Konyukhov recalled at a TASS press center. "This iceberg broke loose when we had our seasonal field camps there at Druzhnaya, with an expedition led by Dmitry Shparo. We airlifted our equipment there in advance. And, as we sat and waited for our mission to Antarctica, we were told that the iceberg had broken off, and the Druzhnaya station is now drifting away. We had our skis and all other equipment there, and it was gone just like that," Konyukhov said. The press service of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) reported on Tuesday that the A23a iceberg, which until last year was the largest in the world, has completely broken apart while drifting in the Southern Ocean. The A23a iceberg broke off from the outer edge of the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in Antarctica in 1986. Originally, it covered an area of 4,170 square kilometers (1,610 square miles), nearly twice the size of St. Petersburg. After remaining grounded in the shallow waters of the Weddell Sea for more than 30 years, it started drifting along the shore of Antarctica, and by November 2023 had been carried into open water. The Druzhnaya-1 polar research station was established in 1975 on the Filchner Ice Shelf bordering the Weddell Sea. In June 1986, it drifted to the ocean when the ice it was on broke from the main ice shelf as iceberg A23a. In 1987, a group of scientists reached the iceberg via helicopter. Its equipment and prefabricated structures were airlifted to later become a new research station, Druzhnaya-3.