This is an iceberg taken from the air that is stuck in sea ice. We were about 200 feet above the deck at this point and I loved the arch in the berg.

Icebergs are quite distinct from sea ice because they derive from the glaciers that cover the Antarctic continent. Glaciers are vast ice sheets that grow from snow accumulation on the landmass and spread outwards until their edges push into the sea. There are ice sheets that are less dense than seawater, are buoyed by the water and break up under the stress of current, wind, and wave action. Calving of the berg off the glacier is quite amazing to see and hear and is something I have to be warry of when operating the RIBs around the glaciers around base – Sheldon.

The edge of glaciers down here form shelf ice which push into the marginal seas around the continent and can exceed 60 miles long and over 650 feet above sea level. In 1991 an iceberg the size of Connecticut broke loose from an ice shelf in the Weddell Sea. Most calving occurs during the summer when the sea ice breaks up and ocean swells can reach the shelf ice the icerbergs that calve move north into warmer rougher waters and disintegrate.