ANTARCTICA is set for a clash of the frozen titans this weekend, when a vast iceberg twice the size of Greater London is expected to collide with a 44-mile long floating glacier.

The B15A iceberg, a remnant of the largest berg ever recorded, is moving at a mile a day towards the Drygalski Ice Tongue in the Ross Sea. It is on course to hit as early as today.

Scientists are struggling to predict the consequences of the impact of the 1,200 square mile (3,000sq km) slab of ice against the protruding glacier. The berg, which contains enough water to supply Britain for 60 years, could stick to the glacier, create a huge ice dam and cut off thousands of penguins from their feeding grounds.

If B15A picks up sufficient speed, however, the collision could snap off the Drygalski Ice Tongue from the mainland glacier from which it protrudes. Such a collapse could help the region’s Adele penguins, clearing a path through the ice through which the birds can reach the ocean and fish.

B15A’s movements have been tracked by Nasa’s Aqua and Terra satellites, which could capture images of an event that the space agency desribes as “the largest demolition derby on the planet”. Robert Bindshadler, a researcher at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, said: “It’s a clash of the titans — a radical and uncommon event. It will certainly be a blow far larger than anything else the ice tongue has ever experienced.” The most likely outcome is that the collision will “dent their bumpers”, Dr Bindshadler said. But it is possible that the Drygalski glacier will collapse. The B15A iceberg is the biggest remaining fragment of the B15 that calved from the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000 and initially covered 4,400 sq miles — an area the size of Jamaica.

In a separate study, which is published today in the journal Science, British scientists have tracked the migration patterns of another Antarctic species, the grey-headed albatross, for the first time. The birds, which are endangered, fly up to 13,700 miles (22,000km) from South Georgia to spend the summer on the African coast of the Indian Ocean. The fastest made the journey in just 46 days.

The findings, from a team at the British Antarctic Survey led by John Croxall, will help albatross conservation by allowing scientists to design safe “corridors” which can be kept clear of long-line fishing boats, one of the chief threats. “By understanding where these birds go, we can brief governments and fisheries commissions to impose much stricter measures,” Professor Croxall said.

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