Mystery on Ice

When a gigantic, 1,140-square-mile iceberg at the South Pole broke up suddenly last October, scientists were puzzled. What force could be powerful enough to shatter such a huge chunk of ice into six pieces?

By coincidence, scientists had set up instruments on that iceberg several years before to record how it shifted and cracked in the water. After the berg broke up, they made the dangerous trip to pick up the instruments. The recordings showed that for three days before it shattered, the huge berg had been moving dramatically up and down and side to side, even though weather and sea were calm.

Six days before the break-up, a violent storm had struck in the Arctic, over 8,000 miles away. Could giant waves from that storm have made the ocean move enough to shatter an iceberg at the opposite side of the earth? Yes, the scientists concluded. Even though the waves were only large ripples by the time they traveled from the Arctic to the South Pole, their angle and regular motion doomed the giant berg, perhaps pounding it into the sea floor.

-Meg Moss

Copyright Carus Publishing Company May/Jun 2007
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved