tiabunna's photos with the keyword: iceberg

On Boxing Day we were in open sea near the coastline, with a full gale blowing. Drifting snow covered the Antarctic plateau creating the fuzzy effect in the background while, as we ran downwind, large waves dashed against a nearby tabular iceberg - seemingly unmoving like an island. And this was the time for us to depart The Big Ice for points northward. Definitely best viewed on black.

Christmas Day, and with the weather again worsening in the afternoon it was a matter of heading to some clear sea. That involved the ship squeezing slowly and carefully between an area of thick old sea ice and a large tabular iceberg (see note for earlier shot, showing the quite narrow gap). Needless to say, this was somewhat suspenseful and little was being said on the ship's bridge, where this was taken!

Christmas Day began with windy conditions - here we see snow drifting in the wind from the top of a large iceberg as our ship passed (the drifting snow creates the foggy appearance and also the horizontal line of lightening). Later the wind eased and we were able to stop at some fast ice for photos and for Santa to make an appearance (see note). This also gives some perspective of the size of the ship (about 4300 tonne). I recommend viewing on black.

Best on black. As the Antarctic ice sheet heads toward the ocean it grinds across the underlying rock, in the process being worn to the profile of the rock it crosses while also gathering powdered rock dust which causes this chocolate discolouration. This berg (larger than it may appear, at about 20M high) has capsized on reaching the ocean, making the colours and diagonal wear from rocks visible. Glaciers often pick up rocks known as "erratics" and transport them for considerable distances where, on land, they are deposited into moraines. When they are picked up by ice that becomes icebergs, they become "dropstones" and eventually fall to the bottom of the ocean - potentially thousands of kilometres from their origin. The closer shot in the insert note shows one. Explored.

Sometimes ice melts, even in the Antarctic - usually near rocky areas where heat radiates. Small streams then run on the ice before plunging down crevasses where they eventually freeze again. This ice is denser and a different colour than the surrounding ice formed from compressed snow. When the glacier finally breaks away to form icebergs, the frozen stream shows as rare jade coloured ice.

Even icebergs 50M high look small from a helicopter! Flying above a heavily crevassed glacier, en route to the edge of the Plateau. Our ship (see note) is behind the central iceberg. This gives at least some feel for the immensity of Antarctica. Suggest changing "Location" to satellite view for a useful indication of place.

While our ship was 'parked' against the fast ice in East Antarctica, we were able to go out on the pack ice around us - it was about 2 metres thick and quite safe, though everyone was required to wear life jackets in case of an impromptu dip. The penguins watched the strange things the people did. :) Explored

The Marina Svetaeva "parked" in fast sea ice, East Antarctica, with a tabular iceberg behind and an Adelie penguin looking on. Thinking of the people caught for New Year on the Akademik Shokalskiy in pressure ice, not far from where this was taken.

I guess a ship's rail counts as a fence. Happy Fence Friday! I couldn't resist this stanza from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner": And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald....

From an old slide. As we sailed home across the Southern Ocean, this was one of the last icebergs sighted. Unlike our trip southward, we had mainly good weather on our return.

From one of the gritty "home developed" Ektachrome slides taken in 1966, this one cleaned up in post processing. Out on the sea ice among the islands near Mawson, for a practice run with the dog teams - here passing an iceberg. Another (more gritty) image in the PiP.

From an old slide, January 1966. Again at sea and passing through open sea ice at sunset.

Scanned from an old slide (too small, I now realise). This is an old weathered berg which has broken from a larger berg and overturned. Erosion by the ocean has formed the smoothly rounded surfaces. Minolta SR1 with Auto Tele Rokkor-PG 135/2.8 lens, 25 ASA Kodachrome 2.

Scanned from an old slide. Shortly after encountering the icebergs, we found ourselves pushing through pack ice. It was a slow process, involving to-ing and fro-ing as the ship worked to force its way through. In these conditions, the Captain drove the ship from the crows nest visible on the fore mast. Note, far ahead, the tabular bergs looming above the ice.