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The word iceberg comes from the Dutch word “ijsberg” which means “ice hill”. Iceberg is the mass of ice that has become detached, or calved, from the edge of an ice sheet or glacier and is floating on the ocean. They float because of more volume which makes them less dense than water and about one ninth of the total mass of a berg projects above the water. Greenland and other N Atlantic icebergs are usually peaked and irregular in shape; Antarctic icebergs are tabular, with flat tops and steep sides. Icebergs differ from other ocean ices: sea ice is formed directly from the freezing of ocean water; pack ice is tightly packed fragments of sea ice; ice floes are small, floating ice fragments that separate from pack ice; and fast ice is ice attached to a shore. The tallest iceberg measured ever was 168m seen in 1958 off Greenland. Smaller icebergs makes a particular sound while floating and hence they are called “growlers”. Every year about 10000-15000 icebergs are formed around the world! The process of ice formation is called carving and the most enthralling of all is that the air trapped in a fully formed iceberg may be about 3000 years old!
How do icebergs form, and where do they go?
Icebergs form when chunks of ice calve, or break off, from glaciers, ice shelves, or a larger iceberg. Icebergs travel with ocean currents, sometimes smashing up against the shore or getting caught in shallow waters.
When an iceberg reaches warm waters, the new climate attacks it from all sides. On the iceberg surface, warm air melts snow and ice into pools called melt ponds that can trickle through the iceberg and widen cracks. At the same time, warm water laps at the iceberg edges, melting the ice and causing chunks of ice to break off. On the underside, warmer waters melt the iceberg from the bottom up.
Why do scientists study icebergs?
Climate scientists study icebergs as they break up for clues to the processes that cause ice shelf collapse. Scientists have noticed that the way icebergs break up when they reach warmer waters mirrors the disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves. By studying the factors that cause icebergs to break up, researchers hope to better understand the influences that lead to ice shelf breakup, and to better predict how ice shelves will respond to a warming climate.
Oceanographers follow icebergs because the cold freshwater they contribute to the sea can influence currents and ocean circulation far away from their origins. Biologists study icebergs to find out how they influence ocean life. As icebergs melt, they leak nutrients into the ocean around them. Recent studies have shown that the water surrounding icebergs teems with plankton, fish, and other sea life
