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Research on Iceberg B-15A (Image 2)
Pushing its weight around the sea, iceberg B-15A floats within miles of Ross Island, Antarctica. The size of the original iceberg was estimated to be 480 cubic miles (2,000 cubic kilometers) of ice.
More about this image
Iceberg B-15A is a fragment of a much larger iceberg (B-15) that broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000. Scientists believe that the enormous piece of ice broke away as part of a long-term natural cycle (every 50 to 100 years, or so) in which the shelf--roughly the size of Texas--sheds pieces, similar to human fingernails growing and breaking off.
Researchers are using global positioning systems (GPS), weather monitoring stations and four seismometers to track several icebergs. The goal is to learn more about what causes icebergs to calve, how and why they drift, what happens when the icebergs warm, and why they are producing previously unknown tremors that are picked up on seismometers as far away as Tahiti. Plans are to track B-15A until it disintegrates. (Date of Image: Jan. 29, 2001) [Image 2 of 8 related images. See Image 3.]
Credit: Photo by Josh Landis, NSF
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