| ANATOMY OF AN ICEBERG When an iceberg first calves from a glacier approximately 1/5th of it is above the waterline. That part consists of snow, which is not very compact. The ice in the cold core is very compact (and thus relatively heavy) and keeps 4/5th of the iceberg under water. The temperature in the core is constant: between -15 and -20 deg. Centigrade. As the iceberg rolls over several times it looses the light snow layers, leaving only the compacted ice, and so the iceberg gets relatively heavier then when calved. This greater compactness, brings the area of the iceberg that you can see down to only 1/8th above the surface. |
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