MAY 2019


 

As some of you know, May 5 is my birthday! This blog post is late because I was busy celebrating! As such, the photo for May is always one of my favorites - often my most favorite! This year is no exception. I found this one intriguing partly because it is clear; and most icebergs aren't!

     It's time for Icebergs 101.
     Most icebergs are made of glacial ice. Glaciers are formed by snow falling and accumulating year after year. Air bubbles trapped in the ice turn it white. As more pressure is applied to the snow that has fallen (by more snow falling) and as time goes by, the air is pushed out of the glacier making the ice denser and denser. This causes some light to be absorbed, and some to be reflected, particularly at the blue end of the spectrum. Hence that beautiful blue ice you see is very old and very dense.  Other minerals ground into the glacial ice can cause different colors, but basically if you see blue ice, it's old ice. The glaciers that create icebergs are active, and moving towards the sea.  When they reach the sea, large chunks of ice break off to form icebergs which are then sculpted by wind and water as they float on the water.
     However, clear icebergs are different. They are frozen sea water! Sea water freezes along the underside of the ice shelf floating above it.  As this water has few air bubbles, the resulting ice is clear. It can pick up color from ground up dirt and minerals, dust, and dead plankton cells.  This ice can then can break off and form icebergs that are also clear!
     Below are a few photos of the glacier bay where May's photo was taken. It is located north of Kangerlussaq, Greenland on the last sea day of our expedition.
   
GLACIER CALVING

FROZEN SEA ICE
CONTENDER
ANOTHER WONDERFUL SPECIMAN

   

Comments

  1. jarielMay 7, 2019 at 2:37 PM

    Extraordinarily beautiful...but/and their demise is absolutely heart-breaking and terrifying.

    ReplyDelete

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