Icebergs FAQs

How big was the biggest iceberg ever recorded?
The largest iceberg ever recorded (B-15), was 273 km long by 40 km wide, with a surface area close to 11,000 km², nearly the size of the state of Connecticut and broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The tallest iceberg recorded was 168 m above the sea on the North Atlantic.

How fast do icebergs move?
Icebergs off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador can move at average speeds of 12 km per day. Icebergs are moved by the surface water currents and winds and can vary depending on their location and size. Tall icebergs act like sails and can move like sailboats with the wind. Icebergs usually follow the oceans currents and can appear one day at a determined place and be gone the next day.

Could people live on an iceberg?
People could not actually live permanently on an iceberg but people have actually live for short periods of time on them. For example, the US Air Force established a metrological station, as part of a scientific research expedition, on a 90 sq km ice island named Fletcher’s Island (after Col. Fletcher who discovered the iceberg floating in the Arctic Ocean). The station was created on 1952 and lasted over 36 years after the iceberg drifted southwards and started to melt

How do icebergs influence the climate?
Besides local fog and local cold weather, icebergs have mainly two climatic roles. Their first role is to regulate the amount of freshwater contained on the polar sheets, which is close to 70% of the world’s freshwater (src: Atlas of Canada), by melting into the ocean. The second role of icebergs is melting, as they regulate the surface salinity of the oceans. Too much salt or too little and marine life cannot survive.

What dangers do icebergs oppose?
As shipping traffic increases in iceberg-populated oceans, they oppose a great danger to ships and other vessels. As the most famous ship-iceberg collision, the Titanic sinkage created a new way of viewing icebergs. They are not just only sight-grabbing floating pieces of glacier ice but also ship-sinking floating pieces of ice. Also, with oil drilling in the northern oceans, icebergs are a large danger to underwater pipelines and drilling platforms.

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