ICE BERG

ICEBERG FACTS

An iceberg (below) is a large piece of ice that has broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. Icebergs in the North Atlantic mostly come from glaciers on Greenland, and those in the South Atlantic from the Antarctic.

 • The word iceberg probably comes from the Dutch ijsberg, or ice hill.

• lcebergs float because they are made of fresh water which is less dense than sea water.

 • Seven-eighths of an iceberg is below the surface of the sea, hence the expression "the tip of the iceberg", which means that more is concealed than can be seen. 

• The tallest iceberg ever measured was 168m high. It was seen in 1958 off Greenland and was as tall as a So-storey skyscraper. 

• Small icebergs (those less than 1m high and 5m wide) are known as growlers, because of the noise they make.

• lcebergs larger than growers are called bergy bits: then they are graded small, medium, large or very large. Very large icebergs are those measuring more than 75m high and 213m wide.

• One of the biggest icebergs of recent times, known as B-15, broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf. Antarctica, in March 2000. It had an average length of 29Skm and width of 37km, giving it a total area about the size of Jamaica!

• The air trapped in iceberg ice— which is "harvested" and sold for use in drinks - may be as much as 3,000 years old.

• At least 500 incidents have been recorded of ships striking icebergs. In 1875, the 82 crew members of the schooner Caledonia were rescued after their ship sank and they spent a night siting on an iceberg. The worst-ever disaster involving an iceberg happened when the titanic struck an iceberg on 14 April 1912 and 1,503 lives were lost.

• During World War2. Lord Mountbatten led a programme devised by British inventor Geoffrey Pyke to build artificial icebergs to use as aircraft carriers, but the project, codenamed Habbakuk, was abandoned.

  • About 10,000 to 15,000 new icebergs are formed every year. The process is called "calving.

NOTE- GLOBAL WARMING IS MELTING THE WORLD’S ICE SHELEVES AND POLAR BEARS ARE DROWING AS A RESULT. AS ICE FLOES BECOME SMALLER AND DRIFT FURTHER APART, THE BEARS ARE FORCED TO SWIM UP TO 97KM BETWEEN THEM IN SEARCH OF PREY. SOME NEVER MAKE IT.