Mesmerizing Striped Icebergs: Ageless beauties of the Frozen World | Continental Online Continental online

Mesmerizing Striped Icebergs: Ageless beauties of the Frozen World

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Picture of an amazing striped iceberg taken in the Antarctic region.

Icebergs are famous for their gigantic size and astonishing shapes but a rare few earn beautiful stripes on them. This selection of striped, streaked and striated seafaring snow mountains show that there’s much to be gained by freezing between the lines. These blue stripes on an iceberg are formed as iceberg layers melt and refreeze quickly..




Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

Credits: Mats Berglund's photostream




These “jade icebergs” are sometimes formed from very old or bubble-free ice that takes on a beautiful emerald or jade green cast. Unlike blue ice formed from relatively pure frozen meltwater, green ice results when seawater freezes inside cracks beneath ice shelves. On rare occasions when a calved iceberg flips over, the bands of free foliage of flourishing vegetation, sometimes resembling giant candies.


(image Credits: Audubon Magazine)

Above are a few exquisite striped jade icebergs photographed by Steve Nicol, leader of the Australian Antarctic Division’s Southern Ocean Ecosystems Program. Over the past 20 years, he has made eight research voyages to the iceberg-studded seas off East Antarctica.


Amazing ..!! Aren't they?


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