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A huge chunk of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water is known as an iceberg. “Growlers” or “bergy pieces” are little iceberg fragments that are dissolving.

Because so much of an iceberg lies under the surface, the phrase “tip of the iceberg” was coined to describe a small portion of a bigger, hidden problem. Icebergs are a significant marine danger. The RMS Titanic’s sinking in 1912 prompted the creation of the International Ice Patrol in 1914.

Icebergs are irregularly formed mounds calved by glaciers that face the open sea, such as those found in Greenland. Ice shelves in Antarctica calve enormous tabular (tabletop) icebergs. Iceberg B-15A, which broke off the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 2000, was the largest iceberg ever recorded.

The name iceberg comes from the Dutch word ijsberg, which literally means “ice mountain,” and is related to Danish isbjerg, German Eisberg, Low Saxon Iesbarg, and Swedish isberg.

Because pure ice has a density of 920 kg/m3 (57 lb/cu ft) and saltwater has a density of 1,025 kg/m3 (64 lb/cu ft), only roughly one-tenth of an iceberg’s bulk is above water (according to Archimedes’ Principle of Buoyancy). By looking at the section above the surface, it might be difficult to assess the shape of the underwater portion. Icebergs are sometimes likened to Manhattan in terms of size.

Icebergs may reach heights of more than 100 meters (300 feet) above the sea surface, and their mass can range from 100,000 to 10 million tons. “Bergy bits” refers to icebergs or floating ice that are less than 5 meters above the sea surface; “growlers” refers to icebergs or floating ice that are less than 1 meter. The tallest known iceberg in the North Atlantic, observed by the USCG icebreaker Eastwind in 1958, was 168 meters (551 feet) above sea level, taller than a 55-story skyscraper. The internal temperatures of these icebergs, which originate from the glaciers of western Greenland, can range from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius (5 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Winds and currents tend to drive icebergs closer to coasts, where they might freeze into pack ice (a type of sea ice) or drift into shallow seas, where they can strike the seabed, causing a process known as seabed gouging.

The Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica has calved, or split off, the world’s biggest icebergs. Iceberg B-15 spanned 295 by 37 kilometers (183 by 23 miles) and had a surface area of 11,000 square kilometers when it was observed by satellite in 2000. (4,200 sq mi). On November 12, 1956, the USS Glacier saw an Antarctic tabular iceberg with a surface area of about 31,000 square kilometers (12,000 square miles) 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Scott Island in the South Pacific Ocean. Belgium was dwarfed by this iceberg.

A growler is a tiny iceberg that is less than 2 meters (6.6 feet) wide and floats with less than 1 meter (3.3 feet) above water. It is smaller than a bergy bit, which is often less than 5 meters (15 feet). Both are generated by icebergs that are dissolving.

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