Wildlife including penguins, seals and whales could be in danger from a giant iceberg affecting the ecosystem in the South Atlantic and a research ship has been sent to monitor the situation.

Scientists led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are investigating the impact of the A-68a iceberg that broke away from an ice shelf in 2017 and is heading towards the island of South Georgia.

The team has gone from the Falklands Islands to the sub-Antarctic South Georgia on the National Oceanography Centre's RRS James Cook to carry out research on the iceberg and sea life.

Images of the iceberg taken in late 2020 show it is breaking up and researchers will look at the effect of the freshwater from the melting ice on the region, which sustains colonies of penguins, seals and whales.

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Underwater robotic gliders deployed from the research ship are spending four months gathering information including the iceberg's temperature, seawater salinity and levels of chlorophyll.

Fresh water could upset the food chain, from plankton to the penguins, which will also be affected if the iceberg grounds near the birds' breeding area.

"The iceberg is going to cause devastation to the seafloor by scouring the seabed communities of sponges, brittle stars, worms and sea-urchins, so decreasing biodiversity," said Geraint Tarling, an ecologist at British Antarctic Survey.

"These communities help store large amounts of carbon in their body tissue and surrounding sediment. Destruction by the iceberg will release this stored carbon back into the water and, potentially, the atmosphere, which would be a further negative impact.

"However, while we are interested in the effects of A-68a's new arrival at South Georgia, not all the impacts along its path are negative. For example, when traveling through the open ocean, icebergs shed enormous quantities of mineral dust that will fertilize the ocean plankton around them and this will benefit them and cascade up the food chain."

Waters around South Georgia are some of the most biologically rich places on the planet, with more described marine species than the Galapagos, and it is one of the world's largest Marine Protected Areas.

Video editor: Riaz Jugon