Our Earth is called the blue planet. And not by chance. After all, 70% earth's surface is made up of water. Water exists not only in liquid, but also in solid state (at negative temperatures). Solid water is ice, glaciers that make up the Earth's ice shell. Glaciers are perennial masses of ice formed by the accumulation and transformation of snow, which move under the influence of gravity and take the form of streams, convex sheets or floating slabs (ice shelves). Polar glaciers almost always reach the oceans and seas and actively interact with them, which is why they are called “marine”. Glaciers can invade cold, shallow seas, moving onto the continental shelf. The ice sinks into the water, which leads to the formation of ice shelves - floating slabs consisting of firn (compressed porous snow) and ice. Icebergs periodically break off from them. At contact with the sea, the movement of ice streams accelerates, their ends float up, forming floating tongues, which also become the source of a huge number of icebergs.
“Ice” in German means ice, “berg” means mountain. Icebergs are large fragments of glaciers that descend from land to the sea. They are carried far away by sea currents. And it’s amazing - sometimes the ice mountains seem to float against the current. This happens because only an eighth or ninth of the entire iceberg rises above the surface of the water, the rest is immersed deep in the water, where the current is sometimes opposite to that on the surface.
Translated into Russian, the word “iceberg” means “ice mountain”. These are truly floating mountains of ice, born from glaciers sliding into the sea. The end of the glacier hangs over the sea for some time. It is undermined by tides, sea currents, and winds. Finally it breaks off and falls into the water with a crash. Every year, ice streams form tens of cubic kilometers of ice per year. All Greenland glaciers annually throw out more than 300 km3 of ice into the ocean, ice streams and ice shelves in Antarctica - at least 2 thousand km3.
Greenland icebergs- often real ice mountains of a dome-shaped or pyramidal shape. They can rise above the water by 70 - 100 m, which is no more than 20-30% of their volume, the remaining 70-80% is hidden under water. With the East Greenland and Labrador Currents, masses of icebergs are carried up to 40-500 north latitude, in some cases even further south.
Encountering icebergs in the ocean is dangerous. After all, its underwater part is not visible. In 1912, the large passenger steamer Titanic sailed from America to Europe, collided with an iceberg in the fog and sank. But it happened that in Antarctic waters icebergs served the Yuri Dolgoruky whaling flotilla well. Severe storms prevented sailors from reloading finished products onto a refrigerator and taking fuel from a tanker. And then the sailors saw two icebergs nearby. Walked around high waves, and between them there was only a slight swell. The sailors risked standing between the icebergs and, under their protection, performing the necessary overload. It seems that this is the only case when icebergs helped sailors. But icebergs are not only a majestic natural phenomenon. They can serve as a source of fresh water, which is increasingly scarce for people. Projects are already being developed to “catch” and tow icebergs into arid areas, such as Saudi Arabia, South West Africa.
Any creation of nature is unique and inimitable. Ice mountains in the ocean are an unforgettably beautiful and majestic picture. They have the most bizarre shapes and are amazingly colored. They resemble giant crystals of precious stones: bright green, dark blue, turquoise. This is how the sun's rays are refracted in perfectly clean polar ice floes saturated with air bubbles. Because of these bubbles, which are much lighter than water, icebergs are immersed in water only five-sixths of their volume.
The true size of icebergs far exceeds imagination. In the Arctic, these mountains of ice rise above sea level by an average of 70 m, sometimes reaching a height of 190 m, and the length of some of them reaches several kilometers. The drifting station “North Pole - 6” and the first American Arctic stations in the Arctic Ocean operated on such ice islands. The flat-topped masses of Antarctic icebergs have an average surface height of 100 m, and some of them rise above the water by 500 m and have a length of 100 km or more.
Sea currents and winds pick up icebergs and carry them from the polar seas to the ocean. IN Southern Hemisphere Large Antarctic icebergs penetrate especially far into the Atlantic Ocean, here they reach 260 south latitude, i.e. up to the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, in the Pacific and Indian oceans, icebergs do not float north of 50-400 south latitude.
In the Northern Hemisphere, especially many Arctic icebergs are carried by the East Greenland and Labrador currents into the Atlantic Ocean, where they reach the latitude of England. And here, on the routes of busy transatlantic shipping, they pose a serious threat to ships. But modern ships are equipped with sophisticated instruments that warn at a great distance of the approach of any obstacle, including icebergs.
With the help of icebergs, as we have already said, it would be possible to solve the problems of supplying the arid regions of the Earth fresh water. The famous American oceanographer and engineer John Isaacs came up with a tempting idea - to tow a large iceberg to the shores of water-stricken California, and use the water generated when the iceberg melts to irrigate dry lands. It can be assumed that the colossal mass of ice, which will melt very slowly even in the hot Californian climate, can cause increased condensation of atmospheric moisture and additional precipitation. This will lead to an increase in water reserves in the reservoir and a slight decrease in the dry climate on the coastline adjacent to the iceberg. This can be used in other arid areas as well globe, and above all in Australia.
The largest icebergs are born from the giant glaciers of Antarctica. From time to time, deep cracks form in the glacier, and it splits into separate blocks. The birth of an iceberg is a spectacular sight. A huge mass of ice falls into the water with a roar reminiscent of a monstrous explosion. Once in the water, the iceberg sets off to swim. Currents sooner or later carry it to warmer latitudes, where it is washed by warm waters and it slowly melts under the rays of the sun. But especially large icebergs manage to move far to the south if they are Arctic icebergs, or far to the north if they are Antarctic. In just one year, about 26 thousand icebergs break off from the Arctic ice cover. The largest iceberg was recorded in the Ross Sea in October 1987. It broke off from the ice shell of Antarctica. The area of the giant is 153 by 36 km.
During the year, approximately 370 icebergs pose a threat to navigation. Therefore, in the open ocean they are constantly monitored by a special service. Icebergs can reach a height of 100m above the sea surface, but most of them are under water. An ice mountain floating in warm waters is usually shrouded in dense fog - this water vapor is more warm air thickens over its cold surface. In 1912, the large passenger steamer Titanic, which was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, collided with an iceberg in thick fog. The ship on which two thousand two hundred passengers were sailing to America sank. One and a half thousand people died. Many years later, in 1959, the Danish ship Hedtof suffered the same fate. It also sank in the North Atlantic. An iceberg is a kind of fresh water reservoir.
Even a relatively small ice mountain, 150 m thick, 2 km long and half a kilometer wide, contains almost 150 million tons of fresh water, and of very high quality. This amount of water would be enough for a whole month for such a gigantic city as Moscow, with a population of millions. In the USA, projects are being developed to transport icebergs to the multimillion-dollar city of Los Angeles and port cities South America, Africa, Australia. Of course, there are many difficulties. We need very powerful tugboats, we need to learn how to securely secure the iceberg with cables, and when delivering it to the port, make sure that it does not melt too quickly. It is important to lay out the most advantageous path for the iceberg in the ocean in order to take advantage of favorable currents and winds.
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Iceberg is one of those geographical concepts that is familiar to most people to one degree or another. Everyone knows about the huge pieces of ice floating in the oceans and creating a danger for ships. Icebergs became especially “popular” after the release of the cult American film “Titanic” on world screens. Who hasn’t heard that a luxury liner sank after colliding with a huge iceberg! But not many people know with certainty how icebergs form.
Where do icebergs occur?
If we take the exact translation from German language, then “iceberg” is “ice mountain”. Indeed, many icebergs resemble mountains in their outlines: high, steep slopes, sheer walls, sharp peaks. However, some of the icebergs look completely different: they resemble gigantic tables, or even ice fields. Therefore, it would still be more correct to consider that icebergs are not ice mountains, but simply huge pieces of ice of very different configurations.
Almost all the world's icebergs form in two areas: off the coast of Antarctica and near the largest island on the planet - Greenland. Accordingly, the first group is called the Southern, and the second - the Northern. It is not possible to count the number of icebergs in the ocean, because this figure is constantly changing, but scientists (hydrologists and glaciologists) are sure: at any given time there are at least 40 thousand icebergs in the World Ocean!
How icebergs get into the ocean
The mechanism of iceberg formation is completely unpretentious and simple. The huge ice fields that cover Antarctica and Greenland gradually flow to the ocean, like rivers flow to the seas. Only the speed of this current is thousands of times slower. However, sooner or later, the ice shell reaches the coastline and breaks off into the water in pieces.
It is clear that Antarctica, being a continent and possessing a multi-kilometer layer of ice, gives birth to icebergs much larger than Greenland. For example, in 2000, an iceberg with an area of 11 thousand km² broke off from this continent! Four megacities like Moscow could fit on such a “piece of ice”!
Don't think that Greenland icebergs are harmless babies. They also sometimes reach several hundred meters in perimeter, rising tens of meters above the water. It was an iceberg from Greenland that destroyed the Titanic in 1912.
The further fate of the icebergs
Having broken away from its native shores, the iceberg begins its long journey in the waters of the World Ocean. Sea currents carry them hundreds, or even thousands of kilometers from the “starting point”. Once in the water, the ice giant begins to rapidly melt, and, in any case, its fate is predetermined. However, large icebergs are able to remain in the water for many months, and sometimes years! For example, the iceberg we mentioned above was observed for about 10 years. But these, of course, are very rare, extreme cases.
A floating iceberg is still very dangerous for ships in the ocean. It is not easy to spot an ice block, especially since icebergs are often surrounded by a layer of thick fog that occurs due to the temperature difference in the surrounding water. The danger also lies in the fact that the visible, surface part of the iceberg is only about a tenth of the entire ice mass. Most of its “body” is hidden under water, because ice is lighter than water, and floats on the surface like a piece of wood.
Taking this into account, ship captains do not swim close to icebergs, because their underwater ledges can extend to the sides for hundreds of meters. Plus it's warm sea water unevenly “gnaws” at the base of the iceberg. There have been cases when, as a result of such thawing, the iceberg suddenly “tumbled”, lying on its side or even turning upside down. Of course, this can only happen with “crumbs” that have a perimeter of no more than a hundred meters.
Types of Icebergs
Scientists distinguish several types of icebergs, focusing on their place of origin and shape:
- Shelf icebergs . Born in Antarctica, they are characterized by their enormous size and relatively flat surface.
- . They are observed both in the north and south of the planet. The shape of the surface can be very different: flat, sloping, mountainous.
- . The surface is quite flat, but inclined to one side. They predominate near Antarctica, but are also found in the vicinity of Greenland.
Some large icebergs that live for years can form their own internal lakes, huge caves or even small rivers. Man not only fears icebergs, but has also learned to use them for his own purposes. For example, in the vicinity of Antarctica, ships sometimes follow icebergs at some distance, using them as a huge icebreaker.
It is noted that in recent decades, much more icebergs have been formed than was previously observed, and they are becoming larger and larger. This manifests itself in global warming on the planet and the reduction of glaciers.
You can talk a lot about icebergs, their nature, you can list their “records”. But in this article we learned how icebergs are formed, these amazing and slightly dangerous sea giants, silent wanderers of the oceans.
Who wants to fly over Iceland (Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon. 360° aerial panorama) click on the link above. And then we’ll look at photos of beautiful icebergs and learn something interesting about them.
“The ship was sailing 270 meters from the ice shelf, when a huge block weighing about a million tons broke off from its edge with a loud crack. The main mass of the broken ice mountain either rose high out of the water, then dived again, disappearing from sight. This was repeated many times, and from Pieces of it were breaking off all the time, and it became smaller and smaller. When the roar died down, among the numerous white fragments there remained a beautiful blue mountain, like the core of a flower among the sleeping petals." This is how the famous Australian polar explorer, conqueror of the South Magnetic Pole and the southernmost volcano of the Earth - Erebus - Douglas Mawson describes the picture of the birth of the iceberg so poetically and at the same time accurately documenting it.
Formidable floating ice mountains are huge masses of ice that have broken off from glaciers sliding into the sea or, as Mawson describes, from the edges of the giant ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland The moment of iceberg breaking off is a grandiose and terrible sight, accompanied by an eerie roar reminiscent of cannon fire All The surface of the sea becomes very rough at this time, and the resulting waves are so large that they capsize boats and throw small fishing vessels far away.
ICEBERGS, large blocks of fresh ice that have broken off from glaciers descending into the sea or a periglacial lake (common ice floes and pack ice are formed when the surface of the sea freezes). The main sources of icebergs are the fiord glaciers of Greenland and the ice shelves of Antarctica. The length of Antarctic icebergs sometimes reaches 80 km. Some icebergs rise above the water surface by more than 60 m. Depending on the shape of the icebergs, their underwater part is 7-9 times larger than the surface part. The direction of iceberg drift depends mainly on ocean currents, so icebergs often move against the wind.
The word “iceberg” is translated into Russian as “ice mountain.” This is no exaggeration, since icebergs really reach enormous sizes. In the ocean there were ice giants tens and even hundreds of kilometers long and hundreds of meters high. Back in 1854-1864, scientists monitored the movement of a giant iceberg for ten years, which had a length of 120 kilometers and a height of 90 meters. And in 1927, a Norwegian whaling ship spotted an ice island reaching a length of 170 kilometers. But the largest iceberg was discovered in Antarctic waters in 1956. Its length was 385 and its width was 111 kilometers. In area it was equal to almost half of a country like Slovenia, or three Luxembourg!
The tallest iceberg was found in 1904 off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. The height of the peak of this ice mountain was 450 meters!
Due to the fact that ice is lighter than water, and also due to the air bubbles found in ice crystals, icebergs have good buoyancy. At the same time, only one-eighth of the ice mountain is visible on the surface of the sea; the rest of its mass is under water. Therefore, icebergs are driven by sea currents rather than air currents, and often float against the wind and even through ice fields up to two meters thick. Woe to a ship frozen in such an ice field - the iceberg will crush it like a matchbox!
Antarctic icebergs rarely travel far north into the Indian Ocean and South Pacific, where major shipping lanes lie, although they have been encountered as far as 160 km south of Australia. In the South Atlantic, icebergs drift with the Falkland Current from Cape Horn to the Cape of Good Hope. Northern part Pacific Ocean separated from the Arctic Sea (except for the narrow Bering Strait) and free of icebergs. 10-15 thousand icebergs break off from the West Greenland glaciers every year, many of them coming from East Greenland and the northeastern Arctic coast of Canada. The Labrador Current carries these icebergs south along Newfoundland, and then the Gulf Stream carries them across the Atlantic in a north-northeast direction. From April to August, icebergs are found in abundance on busy North Atlantic shipping lines and all year round can be observed in areas north of 43°N. Sometimes in the south they were found up to the latitude of the Azores.
In clear weather, thanks to their shiny surface, icebergs are visible from afar. At night, breakers form a warning white line around their base. In fog they are difficult to distinguish at a distance of over 90 m, and before the invention of radar they were detected using a ship's siren, the sound of which was reflected from their surface. The sinking of the first-class liner Titanic in 1912 was the result of negligence, and this was the reason for the very strict rules of navigation safety that are still in force today. On the moonless night of April 14-15, the ship continued to move at a speed of 22 knots, despite receiving radio warnings about the presence of floating ice in the area. It struck the iceberg 40 seconds after it was spotted and sank 2 hours 40 minutes later, claiming 1,513 lives.
The “parents” of icebergs are the vast glaciers of Greenland, Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and the island of Canada. From there, 18 thousand icebergs “start” their voyage every year.
The process of iceberg birth is slow. The glacier area is slowly sliding onto the water, driven by bad weather and washed away by the oncoming waves. Then the broken part of the glacier falls into the water with a roar. Air bubbles located in the iceberg, and also due to the fact that ice is lighter than water, the iceberg has good buoyancy.
The process of iceberg birth is accompanied by very interesting and unlike anything else sounds
Large lakes, sometimes up to twenty kilometers in diameter, are often found on the surface of flat icebergs. On such ice islands there are also rivers and streams flowing into the sea in beautiful waterfalls. One of these rivers reached a length of four kilometers and a depth of twelve meters.
Sea water washes deep tunnels and caves in icebergs. Sometimes, however, caves are “inherited” by an ice mountain from the glacier that gave birth to it. The cracks formed during the movement of ice tongues along the mountain slopes can then close at the top if the glacier goes out onto the plain, and then long subglacial cavities remain inside it, which over time approach the shore and set off together with the ice block containing them on a long voyage.
The interior of these subglacial, or more precisely, “intra-ice” caves is a spectacle of amazing beauty. Here's what one of the participants in the 1965 Soviet Antarctic expedition says about it:
"A round corridor about three meters high went deep into the ice mountain. The wavy walls were made of smooth, as if polished ice. An extraordinary bluish-blue light passed through the entire ice massif, flowed softly, shimmering in the ice walls. The reflections of the light that penetrated the ice played on the icicles into the entrance hole. The fantastic blue color of the walls, the play of light, the steam escaping from the mouth in clouds set the mood for a solemn mood. We involuntarily spoke in a whisper and slowly walked along the corridor... The passages branching in all directions pierced the iceberg, and the most amazing thing about them was huge ice crystals hanging from the ceiling and completely covering the walls.It was frost, similar to that which can be seen on the windows on a frosty day, but only magnified many times.
Ice needles, like flowers of the most bizarre shapes, sparkled and sparkled in the blue diffused light. It was scary not only to move, but also to breathe among this unusually fragile and indescribable beauty. We lit the matches and they suddenly burst into a bright red flame. Of course, the fire from the lit match seemed so bright in contrast to the bluish lighting of the cave, but this did not make it any less beautiful."
Once our sailors even met a “singing” iceberg off the coast of Antarctica. The water washed through the holes in it, in which the wind staged rather melodic “concerts”, as if playing a huge flute.
Sometimes icebergs resemble the outlines of medieval castles or watchtowers. They are called pyramidal. But more common are flat, so-called table icebergs. Sometimes you come across colored floating islands: black, green or yellow. It is believed that the reason for the unusual color of the icebergs is the volcanic dust covering them.
Interestingly, floating ice mountains can be found not only in the seas and oceans. In the Tien Shan, at the foot of the majestic Khan Tengri peak, there is a glacial lake called Merzbacher. When a scientific expedition first went to the lake in the 1920s, its members were surprised to see, off the coast of Greenland, that large icebergs were floating on the lake, apparently broken off from the Inylchek glacier that formed the lake. One of the expedition scientists described the picture he saw as follows:
“Icebergs, sparkling in the rays of the southern sun, floated in the water. Ice towers and castles, covered with snow and burning in the sun with myriads of snow crystals, translucent grottoes on the surface of icebergs, hanging icicles playing with all the colors of the rainbow - all this created a fabulous impression.”
Icebergs have always posed a serious threat to shipping. Especially dangerous in this regard are Greenland icebergs, which are driven south by winds and currents to the shores of North America, where busy shipping routes lie. Moreover, if in March the ice mountains reach only the island of Newfoundland, after which they melt and disappear, then in October they sometimes reach the latitude of New York, creating a dangerous obstacle on the way of transoceanic liners traveling from Europe to the USA and back.
The danger is aggravated by the fact that in this area the cold Labrador Current meets the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, causing thick and long-lasting fogs. Meanwhile, icebergs up to 20-30 meters high (and these are the majority in the North Atlantic) even on a clear night are visible only from a distance of 500-600 meters, which does not allow the captain, even if he commanded “Full back!”, to avoid a collision with a fatal obstacle .
The greatest maritime disaster of the 20th century forced maritime powers to take measures to avoid similar tragedies in the future. As a result, the International North Atlantic Ice Patrol was created in 1913. Patrol boats and aircraft watch for icebergs and radio warnings for passing ships. Over the course of a year, the patrol identifies up to four hundred dangerous ice mountains, on which special radio beacons are installed or their surface is painted with bright orange paint.
However, even patrolling does not provide a complete guarantee of avoiding collisions. So, already today, in 1959, the Danish ship Hans Hedhof crashed into an iceberg in the fog and sank with all its passengers and crew. 95 people died. Approaching too close to a floating ice mountain is also dangerous. Icebergs melting from below gradually lose stability and can suddenly capsize, destroying a ship that approaches carelessly.
The capsizing of the iceberg was observed from the board of the motor ship "Ob" in the Davis Sea, and eyewitnesses describe this event as follows:
“In calm weather, a strong roar was heard, comparable in strength to an artillery salvo. Those on deck saw, at a distance of no more than one kilometer, a slowly overturning pyramidal iceberg about forty meters high. Huge blocks of ice broke off from its surface part and fell into the water with a roar. When "The surface part of the iceberg noisily sank into the water, and a rather large swell began to emanate from it, causing the ship to rock. On the surface of the sea, among the debris, a new hilly and uneven top of the iceberg slowly swayed."
Many large icebergs live in the sea for several years. In Antarctica, large colonies of penguins and other seabirds often settle on them. Some even make nests there. The durability of icebergs gave people the idea of trying to use them to supply fresh water to arid countries in Africa and Arabia. This is how a project arose to tow large icebergs by special ships to the shores of the Persian Gulf in order to use the water generated during their melting for water supply and irrigation of fields. It is estimated that the amount of water generated by the melting of one medium-sized iceberg is equal to the annual runoff large river. Time will tell how realistic the implementation of such a project will be.
During stormy weather, ships sailing off the coast of Antarctica often use icebergs for protection from the raging waves, taking shelter on their leeward side from the storm. And pilots of Antarctic expeditions sometimes choose their flat surface as a landing strip. Of course, you must always remember the treacherous nature of the ice islands and be on your guard. After all, the behavior of icebergs is unpredictable and you can expect a surprise from them at any moment.
This is how an iceberg once “joked” with the Canadian steamship Porsche. This happened in 1893. The Porsche was cruising with a large group of tourists on board when suddenly a floating ice mountain appeared ahead of it. The passengers asked the captain to come closer - the iceberg was too beautiful, they wanted to get a better look at it and take a close-up photograph. But as soon as the ship sailed close to the iceberg and the tourists clicked their cameras, something incomprehensible happened. An unknown force began to lift the Porsche out of the water. A few seconds later, the ship was already above the surface of the sea on a huge ice ledge of an iceberg, which had previously been under water. Apparently, the ice mountain swayed in the water, and when the steamer approached it, the tilt allowed the ship to sail over the underwater cornice. Then the iceberg began to roll in the other direction and lifted the ship into the air. Fortunately, this did not last long. When the iceberg tilted back again, the ship found itself in the water without even receiving minor damage. At full speed, the captain directed the steamer away, away from the ice trap. The passengers didn’t even want to think about what could happen if the iceberg capsized.
It must be said that, despite their well-deserved gloomy fame, icebergs make a striking impression on the traveler seeing them for the first time with their unearthly, fabulously romantic beauty. Their shapes can be the most bizarre and unusual: either a giant snow-white swan or a hilly island with wide valleys, lacking only a cozy village, or an island with high mountains, gorges, waterfalls and steep cliffs forming beautiful, picturesque bays. There are icebergs that look like a ship with wind-blown sails, a column on a beautiful pedestal, a pyramid, an ancient city with walls, turrets and drawbridges...
And anyone who happened to see their fantastic outlines on the dark surface of the sea, reminiscent of floating enchanted castles, blue-white, blue-green or pink at sunset, will never forget this majestic and beautiful sight.
Even a relatively small ice mountain 150 m thick, 2 km long and half a kilometer wide contains almost 150 million tons of fresh water, which is completely clean, devoid of impurities and pollutants.
Of course, these projects are not easy to implement. Powerful tugs and reliable cables are needed. It is important to lay out the most favorable path for the iceberg in the ocean in order to use favorable currents and winds, and make the iceberg melt more slowly.
I remember the first time I watched a film about the disaster that happened to the legendary ship Titanic. The tragedy affected me so much that I was impressed by the film for several more days. I wondered how they could notice this iceberg so late? Could some block of ice really sink such a huge liner?
Icebergs - causes of shipwrecks
On my own An iceberg is a piece of ice that has broken off from a glacier and floats freely in the ocean.. Translated from German - ice mountain. Due to the different densities of water and ice, usually only a tenth of the entire iceberg is above the surface of the water, and the bulk of the ice is hidden under water. This, by the way, is where the famous expression “tip of the iceberg” comes from, when visible problems are only a small part of a larger problem. Because the underwater ice floe is not visible, icebergs are very dangerous. for seafarers. The clearest example of this is the shipwreck of the famous Titanic. This floating mountain of ice caused the death of 1,500 people.
The most famous icebergs in the world
A far from complete list of "celebrities":
- B-15- the largest iceberg studied by scientists. Its area can be compared to that of Jamaica;
- tallest iceberg, 450 meters high. Discovered in 1904 in the South Atlantic;
- Fletcher's Ice Island(T-3), discovered at the end of 1940. Drifting scientific stations were repeatedly located on it. Melted in the early 1980s;
- Iceberg "Titanic"- perhaps the most famous iceberg in history. Despite its unremarkable size, in 1912 it was able to ram the largest airliner of that time. Pastayal in 1913 near Franz Josef Land.
Collision avoidance
There are a number of advance ways to avoid hitting an iceberg:
- modern navigation devices, thanks to which danger can currently be detected;
- 24-hour radio watch, which is present on every ship;
- international ice patrol, which was created in 1914 to prevent ship collisions with icebergs. This service is equipped with sonars, special analyzers and other instruments that can detect the underwater outlines of ice blocks, a drop in water salinity and other signs that signal danger;
- pictures of the ice cover, made with the help of satellites, which can be received by any ship located in dangerous waters.
But, despite modern equipment and special equipment, icebergs still represent great danger for seafarers, so even the most modern liner is not immune from collisions with ice monsters.
