Ocean Menu |  Glaciers

What is an Iceberg?

An iceberg is a mass of ice that has broken off part of a glacier called calcen and has fallen into a nearby body of water.

Most icebergs are found in the ocean, but are all composed with fresh water, not frozen sea water, since a glacier is frozen snow. Icebergs are white, blue, or green and sometimes even black due to rock materials that were first in the glacier and ended in the sea because of the iceberg. The largest iceberg is in the Antarctica. It is like a table top. It has an area of 12,000 square miles It is 208 miles long and 60 miles wide. The wind and the waves of the ocean may bring icebergs far away from where they first started the journey. As time passes, icebergs decrease in size because when an iceberg is exposed to heat, like, all other ice, it melts. Icebergs can last at least 10 years, but now the green house effect is causing them to melt a lot faster. Most of an iceberg is hidden beneath waves. At least seven eighths of it is hidden. This is because the glacier ice is slightly lighter then the equal amount of sea water. This makes it very dangerous for boats, because they can not see the whole berg so they might go into a part that can not be seen above water. As an iceberg melts an even smaller part can be seen above water, which makes it even more dangerous.

How are icebergs formed?

An iceberg is just frozen sea water, right? Wrong.

An iceberg isn't even sea water. It is a chunk of glacier that has cracked off the bottom part of the glacier that is called calcen. The glacier probably got quite warm so it cracked, forming an iceberg. Now that the earth temperature is rising many more icebergs are forming, But melting too, due to the fact that, like all ice, as soon as the temperature is over 0 degrees the iceberg will melt. Since the heat is coming from above the top of the iceberg will melt first, which is a great danger to ships because then they can only see a little of the iceberg, but it might be huge under the water and they are so big that is difficult for a ship to turn around before hitting the berg. Only one eighth of an iceberg is above water, so you see the Titanic had a few good reasons to sink.

Does an iceberg stay in the same place? No, an iceberg can travel many miles away from where it started off by simply going on with the waves. This can bring them anywhere. So why can't you find icebergs in the Mediterranean for instance? Well not every where because when the temperature is warm an iceberg melts so by the time it got there it will have melted, so you can't find them everywhere, but in most places where it reasonably cold.

How does an iceberg move?

Icebergs are first broken off a glacier then they float around in the water. How exactly do they move?

Well, they move by the ocean currents, wind, and storms at sea, also by the ripples at the sea that bobs them up and down. Is there anything in the ocean that slows them down? Yes, the icecaps that are on the ocean slow them down because to get through all that ice is difficult, because it blocks it's path. Another thing that may slow them down is sometimes a family of seals, otters, sea birds, etc may decided to live on it for a while and make it their home. When the animals decide to go into the water, it makes it difficult for the sea birds that need to catch those animals, to get through the berg and the icecaps. Fishermen that make a living from these animals have a tough time too. They have to call the ice breaakers to come and break the ice for them. Why aren't icebergs mapped so the fishermen can plan a route around them? An iceberg moves quickly, so it would be difficult to mark them in the exact right place. However, fishermen do know more or less, where the iceberg is.

What's in an iceberg?

Is an iceberg just frozen water?

No, an iceberg can have small rocks, branches, twigs, or stones that have been brought with it from when it started it's journey from the glacier. Sometimes one of these things can get into an iceberg after it has cracked off a glacier by getting very close to the iceberg for a long time, and if the water around it freezes, which is not very likely, but can happen, the twig, branch, etc can freeze to the iceberg. What happens to the things that are in the icebergs? Well as an iceberg melts (which takes about ten years) the stuff inside it is obviously let out into the sea. Is this like pollution? Usually this stuff inside the iceberg is natural since it came from a mountain, but since there is now a lot of pollution on the land it can get into the see via an iceberg. It isn't very likely.

What color is an iceberg? Most people think an iceberg is totally white, but that isn't true. Icebergs can have blue, green, and even black in them because of the things in it. Most of the iceberg is white.

Are icebergs dangerous to boats?

So how are they dangerous to boats? An iceberg is seven eighths under water and only one eighth above. This can be really dangerous for boats since only a little of the berg can be seen, and people do not realize that the berg is a lot bigger then it appears. When someone goes out in a boat they should always keep their mind on the icebergs, so that they can change directions if they see one ahead. In some cases a berg can be very long and it is difficult to get around it. The size of the boat will also make a difference because it might take longer for a bigger boat to turn around. If you do hit an iceberg there is a chance that you survive, not much chance for your boat though. An iceberg is most dangerous when the top has melted because then you can not see any of it, but it might be massive below the water. There are ships that are called ice breakers and they break the ice and help keep watch for those careless people in boats. In some places where there are icebergs there are warnings that tell you approximately where they are. Why can't icebergs be mapped so that ships can avoid going near those areas? An iceberg can not be mapped because they move around all the time. Of course, you have to have to have a license to drive a boat, even though you can't be safe it is a lot better to at least know what you are doing. Many accidents have happened to people that were messing about in the water. There are a lot of water police that patrol the water as well, but even they can not stop terrible accidents from happening.

What really sank the Titanic?

Why did the unsinkable ship go down three hours after hitting an iceberg? An 80 year old mystery has finally been answered.

At 11:35 pm on April 14 th 1912 the Titanic(the unsinkable ship) sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean never to be seen again. Thousands of people died in the freezing cold Atlantic, but why? It was supposed to be the safest ship in the world so how could one iceberg sink it in only three hours. Ships like that were not common at the time. This ship was said to be the safest and the most luxurious in the world. It was thought that the only reason the Titanic would sink was if another ship went into it It wasn't even a thought that the ship might sink by an iceberg. The Titanic set off from Southhampton bound for New York at 7:30. Disaster struck the ship at about 12:00. Three large icebergs, each five miles long, would usually have shown up misty- white in the starlight, but it was very dark and the icebergs were not seen at all. Only when it was too late were the icebergs seen and by that time it was too late to turn around. That's when the Titanic became famous for sinking not for being luxurious and safe. Then the Titanic hit the iceberg and started to sink slowly with people still on it.At 12:40 435,000 litres of water were on board the ship. Were there enough life jackets and life boats for the passengers and crew to go around? The answer is not nearly. Women and children were helped into them first, but there were hardly enough for just them. In 1985 the wreck was found at the depth of 12,612 feet. When the Titanic was found they were surprised to find it in two parts at the bottom of the Atlantic. Six years after that the first group of scientists tested the wreck and found many things that were used on the first and only voyage of the Titanic. Things like deck chairs, dishes, forks, knifes, spoons, clothes, money, jewellery, bedding, and many skulls and bones of people that died that night in the icy cold oceans. There are still survivors that are living today that can tell tell you it was the most scary experience that they and anyone else could ever have. These people will never forget their experience on the unsinkable ship.

Exactly how did the ship sink? The Titanic sideswiped a great iceberg gashing the hull. The flooded bow dipped into the water. A stack toppled and three huge propellers lifted out of the water. The ship was tilted at about 45 degrees. The steel fractured and the keel bent. The bows ripped loose causing the stern to rise almost vertically, then began to slide downwards. The bow glided under the water at thirteen mph then reached the bottom planting a hole in the mud. The stern, having turned almost completely around, crashed into the sea two-fifths of a mile from the bow. That's how the Titanic sank on the night of 14 th of 1912 ,at 11:30, pm never to be seen again.

For more information on the Titanic here are three interesting links.

• Enclyopaedia Britannica presents Titanic a virtual exhibit from Britannica Online
  
• Gary Arnold's meta-site The Titanic Resource contains loads of information, graphics, and links to many other Titanic-related information on the Web.
  
• The Virginia Newspaper Project: R.M.S. Titanic 83 Years later: a series of contemporary and sometimes contradictory news reports covering the sinking of the Titanic.
  
• The Titanic Online (from the Discovery Channel): visit the 'virtual Titanic' and read an online account about a 1995 expedition to the ocean floor. Lots of photos and movies from the actual expedition.

Does global warming effect icebergs?

What does everyone mean when they talk about the sea level rising?

The sea level is rising because of global warming, the greenhouse effect. How does that make the sea level rise? Well first of all when water is heated it expands. But also since an iceberg is 99% ice it starts to melt as soon as the temperature is over 0 degrees. Icebergs are huge, the largest one is 12,000 cubic miles. So as you can imagine, if you were to melt it you would get an awful lot of water. Also there are many, many icebergs on earth, so if all of them melted you would have millions of gallons of water. Icebergs won't melt completely, but enough to make the sea level rise quite a bit. Scientists say that by the end of the century the sea may have risen up to three centimetres. That doesn't sound a lot, but it really is. Think how much ocean there is. Well, think with all of that water you add on another three centemeters worth. A lot isn't it? In three hundred years it is thought that the sea will have risen three to four meters! So what if the sea is rising so much? Think about what will happen if the sea level rises. The water isn't just going to fall off the earth. So what is going to happen? Well is there is no place to put extra water in the sea it will have to go onto the land. Think about what a map will look like in, say the year 2500. There will probably be a tiny dot for each continent. Or will it? If you think one step further you will realize that might not be, because there are only a certain amount of icebergs in the world so once they have melted, there will be nothing left to melt. Nevertheless there will be an awful lot of water on the earth.