[Antarctica]: The beauty and secrets of Antarctic icebergs

Hello friends!

Today we will plunge into the world of colors and shapes of the icebergs of Antarctica! It is incredibly beautiful and unusual that nature creates. The photos were kindly provided to me by our polar scientist. These are the author's photos and have not been published anywhere before. I have already mentioned that my SONY camera was in Antarctica without me. All photos in Antarctica were taken by him. A friend, at my request, brought a lot of photos from the South Pole. Gradually you will see them all.

 I love art and sculpture very much. When I look at the icebergs, it takes my breath away! Our nature is beautiful and very unusual. As long as we can observe beauty and wonder how children are, we live! Icebergs are a magnificent creation of unusual shapes and colors. Today I chose some of the beautiful photos. But to be continued...

 In addition to the beautiful sculptural properties of icebergs, one more unique property can be distinguished - many Icebergs constantly travel!
Icebergs can cover huge distances-up to 5000 km! The average life age of an iceberg is 2 to 5 years. There are also those who travel across the expanses of the oceans for more than ten years. They can even drift against the current – this is due to the fact that only a tenth of the iceberg is visible on the surface, and its movement is controlled by underwater currents.

Why can icebergs be white, blue, or even black?
The answer lies in the process of the formation of glaciers, from which then large pieces of ice – icebergs-break off. The glacier consists of compressed snow, between which air bubbles also fall. They scatter and reflect some of the incoming light, so the young iceberg appears white to us.
Over time, the iceberg becomes denser and there are fewer air bubbles in it. Icebergs appear blue and sometimes almost "merge" with the water. Black lines may appear in icebergs formed when the glacier moves through the ground or rock. In the ice layer, these particles leave dark streaks.

 Icebergs often feature in the headlines, such as the Titanic story, global warming, or new records for the size of ice giants. They are formed when huge chunks of ice break away from ice shelves. Recently, we wrote about the split of the largest iceberg in Antarctica. The northern icebergs are born near the Greenland ice sheet, and the southern icebergs are born near the coast of Antarctica. 90% of the iceberg is under water, and only 10% lies on the surface.

Some say that Antarctica is an icy desert. But this is not the case. There is a lot of ice there, but its formations are so different and colorful that it does not look like a desert at all.
There are ice floes - these are colorful sculptures of nature. The icebergs of Antarctica are the largest and most beautiful on the planet, you will not see them in the Arctic.

It also amazes me that there are flying icebergs in Antarctica!!!! You'll say I'm crazy... But no:))) Mirages!!! Even this phenomenon is observed in Antarctica! It's amazing. It is often seen in the desert, but the polar mirage is somewhat different from it and, above all, in that its formation requires a temperature contrast. Above the water of the ocean, such a mirage happens exclusively in the polar regions, and most often around Antarctica, because here the cold air from the continent has the opportunity to go out to a relatively warm, ice-free ocean.

In the photo above, if you look closely, you can see a diving penguin

This is how the whole sea is covered with ice, when no ship can come close to the Ukrainian station Vernadsky. Then the polar explorers are cut off from the mainland...  It is the time of the polar winter and tourists are forbidden to visit these places. But my friend the polar explorer told me that a British small icebreaker yacht came this winter. They were the only tourists of the year. I'll show you the photos in another post.

What do you think of this giant? I think it's made of paper... Very beautiful!

Icebergs, ice floes, water, snow-all this shimmers in the rays of light and creates a fabulous beauty!

There is an interesting concept - "Alley of icebergs". These are split large ice floes that drift across the water expanses one after another. Many Antarctic icebergs reach as far as the South Sandwich Islands. The largest of them are under satellite surveillance due to the threat of collisions with ships.
In the near future, 2 more large icebergs should break off from the ice sheet in Antarctica. One of them is part of a glacier on Pine Island in the western part of Antarctica. Its area exceeds 300 sq. km
. Another iceberg may break off from the Brant ice Shelf in East Antarctica. This will happen after a large crack reaches an area of ice that is less than 10 km long. The area of the new iceberg can reach 1.5 thousand square kilometers, which is approximately equal to the territory of London.

Read this article  about icebergs. Fresh water on Earth is a great value. In many parts of the world, it is not enough. Therefore, the search for new resources is relevant. These include Antarctic table icebergs and fresh-salt lakes of Antarctic oases. This article presents a model of the heat exchange of icebergs with the environment. The futility of towing icebergs to the points of their intended disposal is shown.

Below is a photo of the Ukrainian Antarctic station named after Vernadsky. All photos in the text are copyrighted. The author is my friend, a scientist from Odessa - Vadim Zhukovsky. A huge thank you to him from me

 

@r3benok