Why Icebergs are COOLER Than You Think!

Icebergs just might be the coolest things in the ocean, pun intended. Beautiful and dangerous, icebergs wander over the ocean surface until they melt. Portentous and daunting, they have the ability to capsize a colossal sea craft within a moment’s time. Here are 9 amazing facts about icebergs.

Nine, icebergs are made of pure fresh water. When the edge of a mighty glacier chips off and slips into the ocean in a process known as calving, the particle takes on a new persona, namely, it becomes an iceberg. Their initial hosts are formed on land when snow builds up over thousands of years, as each layer of hard-packed snow compresses into the next. This process continues until 70 meters of the stuff results in the inevitable formation of glacial ice. What’s fascinating is the glacial ice that forms an iceberg may be up to 15,000 years old, which makes sense as icebergs are essentially mountains in ice form, and mountains are a result of thousands of years of compressed dirt and sediment. After fully forming, the icy monument then begins to creep toward the ocean, their own weight gliding them along as if fulfilling some bone-chilling seaward destiny, before eventually slipping into the water to resume their fate. The large mass of fresh water then sails away, a free-floating entity lasting about one year before beginning to soften. While preserved for many years on land, once they hit the water, the slow but inevitable process of melting begins as warm currents and weather attack the berg and cause it to dissolve over time. While most icebergs come from the glaciers of Greenland, others are broken pieces of massive ice sheets of Antarctica. Sometimes, though, smaller-sized icebergs originate from Alaskan glaciers.

How long an iceberg lasts depends on many factors. Every year, approximately 40,000 medium- to large-sized bergs calve from Greenland glaciers, yet only about 400 to 800 make it as far as St. John’s in Canada, as their irregular shape causes most of them to flip over, gravity dragging their weight down beneath the surface. The chances of spotting clumps or communities of icebergs depend on a number of factors, including wind direction, ocean currents, and temperatures, as well as the amount of sea ice in the area. Sea ice, also known as pack ice, protects icebergs from being beaten and battered by waves and helps them to last much longer in the wild. Icebergs are a nomadic bunch, so in order to see one, it is crucial to keep moving, as icebergs are always on the go. Before we continue, take a moment to subscribe to “What Lurks Below.”

Seven, there is no need for speed. While icebergs are continuously traveling, they don’t have one consistent speed. Of course, many factors contribute to the rate of these floating machines, such as size, shape, currents, waves, and wind. The same forces are also the cause of the iceberg’s jagged course, for if the ice mountain were to head in a straight line, it would travel two to three times farther than its irregular path. Glaciologists, those who study glaciers, determine that the glaciers of Western Greenland flow at speeds of up to seven kilometers a year, as these groups are considered among the fastest-moving bergs in the world. Generally, an iceberg has no real motivation other than to terrify unsuspecting ships once they slip into the sea, float along the frosty poles, melting slowly if at all. Those that drift down from Greenland to the east coast of Newfoundland and Labrador eventually make it to Baffin Bay, also known as Iceberg Valley. Here, one can revel in a parade of giant floating glaciers shifting along somewhat innocently until they enter the shipping lanes and create a surging sense of panic.

Six, iceberg warnings help keep us safe. Icebergs can be very dangerous and have caused several maritime tragedies throughout history. In order to best avoid them, it is crucial to study and understand them, as icebergs pose a danger to ships navigating the North Atlantic as well as waters around Antarctica. The International Ice Patrol uses airplanes and radars to keep track of icebergs floating into major shipping lanes. After the tragedy that sank the Titanic near Newfoundland, the United States, along with 12 other countries, formed the International Ice Patrol to warn ships of icebergs in the North Atlantic. Near Antarctica, the US National Ice Center stays hard at work using satellite data to monitor icebergs in the region. Unfortunately, only icebergs larger than 500 square meters are tracked, leaving large vessels to fend for themselves against the smaller-sized threats of the icy abyss.

Five, their color markings make them unique. Icebergs are formed through a process, and as with any process, colors and markings make each ice formation unique. In the progression of forming on land and making their way toward the water, meltwater fills the many crevices of an iceberg before freezing solid, creating clear, bubble-free ice. This causes the berg to appear flecked with beautiful bluish streaks due to the light-scattering characteristics of the pure, unblemished ice. Other times, floating dust from volcanic ash falls on a glacier and becomes trapped within. These specks form a noticeable dark brown or black discoloration under the solid surface. Luckily, since most volcanoes exist south of glaciers and southern winds rarely mix with Arctic airs, there are very few pollutants in the mass, making icebergs extremely pure. Icebergs on the water consist of freshwater ice, pieces of debris, and trapped bubbles of air. The combination of ice and air bubbles promotes sunlight shining on the surface to refract color in the ice with spectacular shades of blue, green, and white. Color may also indicate age, as blue icebergs are older and green bergs are young and contain algae. Therefore, the icebergs that are clear and void of smudge are completely safe to consume. You may be advised against eating yellow snow, but a solid mound of frozen freshwater is completely safe.

What we see is just the tip. Did you know that 90 percent of an iceberg is fully submerged underwater? Their maximum width under sea level is about 30 percent larger than what we see on the surface. Lots of icebergs even touch the seabed floor and can even get stuck in a process known as grounding, a spot where tidal currents or strong winds bring icebergs closer toward shore or into shallow reefs. The tips subsequently get lodged into the muck and sand underneath them. Amazingly, divers can see evidence of this underwater, as crisscrossed marks can be seen from where the iceberg scoured the sandy seabed, creating irregular troughs that can often be seen several kilometers long and over half a meter deep. The famous Grand Banks fishing grounds off the south coast of Newfoundland display such beautiful imprints of icebergs.

Three, they’re massive. Just like most things, icebergs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from long and flat to towering and monumental. Their shapes are dependent upon their life process of continuous melting and breaking, so icebergs are constantly changing form. While no two icebergs are ever the same, biologists have come up with categories used to observe and differentiate different-looking icebergs. The larger varieties are 10 million tons and hundreds of meters long. On the contrary, the smaller variety known as a “bergy bit” is the size of a small house, while a “growler” is reminiscent of a grand piano. Radars are used to continuously scan the ocean for floating glaciers, with one minor problem: they can’t detect anything under a certain size. Therefore, it’s the little guys that prove the most hazardous, as radars could easily miss them when they bob up and down among the waves. The average weight for an iceberg in the Grand Banks area of Canada is 100,000 to 200,000 tons, about the size of a 15-story building. The largest ever recorded iceberg was found in the northern hemisphere near Baffin Island in 1882, measuring in at 13 kilometers long, 6 kilometers wide, and jutting 20 meters above the surface. This ice queen was a beauty to behold; she weighed over 9 billion tons, that’s enough for everyone on the planet to drink one liter of water a day for over 4 years. Icebergs from Antarctica could be even larger, as shown in 1987 with the discovery of a floating glacier so massive it weighed 1.4 trillion tons. The colossal chunk of glacial ice carved from the Ross Ice Shelf had an impressive area of 6,350 square kilometers and could provide everyone in the world with 240 tons of pure drinking water. To compare these monsters with the infamous berg responsible for tilting the Titanic in 1912, the exact size will never be known, yet early newspaper reports render the height and length to approximately 30 meters high and 122 meters long. It is estimated to have weighed 1.5 million tons, that’s a lot of ice, enough to sink the world’s one and only unsinkable ship.

So their destination lies in their destiny. Icebergs are only about 10 percent as strong as concrete, which doesn’t seem like much, but it’s much harder than the ice found in our freezers. A ship colliding with an iceberg almost certainly means disaster. The mammoth amount of momentum and two forces colliding means that an iceberg can easily generate hundreds of tons of force against the ship’s mighty hull, causing it to buckle, dent, crumple, and tear apart as if it were made of tin. Furthermore, the size of an iceberg makes it extremely unstable. Their random shape combined with the erratic behavior of breaking and melting means they can tip or roll quite suddenly. Wedge-shaped bergs will roll over within seconds for no apparent reason, unlike the most stable of tabular-shaped bergs, whose shapes form a plateau with a flat top. The plateau allows for their massive weight to be evenly distributed in the water so they float along.

Understanding icebergs is crucial in understanding global warming. Climate scientists study icebergs to better understand global warming and formulate possible solutions to the problem. They are able to study floating glaciers as they break up to find clues associated with why ice shelves collapse. Studies have shown that the manner in which icebergs break apart as they reach warmer waters mirrors the disintegration of the Antarctic ice shelves. In researching the factors which cause bergs to break, climate scientists hope to better understand the influences behind shelf disintegration in order to better predict how the shelves will respond to a warming climate. Saving the planet isn’t the only reason icebergs are sought after, though. Oceanographers follow them because the cold freshwater they lend to the sea can strongly influence currents and ocean circulation far away from iceberg origins. In addition, biologists research these majestic mountains of moving ice to learn more about the ways they impact marine life. As icebergs melt, they release nutrients into waters around them. Recent studies have shown that iceberg-laden water is teeming with colorful life such as plankton, fish, and crustaceans. The more we know about icebergs, the closer we come to helping our planet thrive. Did you know that melting icebergs due to the warming climate lead to sea levels rising all over the world? Even small levels can have lasting effects on coastal habitats, land erosion, flooding, and habitats for many animals. Thanks for watching, and don’t forget to subscribe to “What Lurks Below.”