Iceberg on the surface and underwater. The largest icebergs in history

I recently heard that an iceberg broke off from the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica. The area of ​​the ice floe is huge and amounts to 300 km² (this is the same as the area of ​​my hometown). I was very interested in this news and decided to learn more about icebergs.

Formation of floating ice

I think that even a child knows that icebergs pose a great danger to sea vessels and animals. It’s not strange, because these ice mountains reach colossal sizes, and their main threat is the part of the ice hidden under water. Icebergs themselves are formed by breaking off glaciers due to the action of wind, currents, tides and water pressure. The largest number of them are carried into the ocean from the glaciers of Antarctica, Greenland, as well as from the northern islands of the Canadian Arctic archipelago. Ocean currents are responsible for the drift of icebergs, so they often move against the wind. If an iceberg floats in the sea for a long time, then through gullies can form in it, due to which the block makes sounds in windy weather. Such ice floes are called singing ones.

Dimensions of ice mountains

The size of the icebergs is impressive. Sailors came up with their own classification, according to which ice blocks are:

• very large sizes (height more than 75 m and length more than 213 m);
• large sizes (height 46–75 m, length 123–213 m);
• medium size (height 16–45 m, length from 61 to 122 m);
• small sizes (height from 6 to 15 m, length 16–61 m);
• fragments or pieces of icebergs (height up to 5 m, length up to 15 m).

It is noteworthy that these dimensions are established only for the surface part of icebergs. I'm even scared to imagine what is under water.

Sources of “canned” water

Icebergs are usually seen only as a threat. However, in the 21st century, people also benefit from floating blocks. The main goal is to use glacial fragments as a source of fresh water. This issue is especially relevant for the arid coasts of Australia and South America, which are close to Antarctica. Iceberg water is immediately drinkable, and its cost will be lower than desalinated seawater.

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I saw icebergs only on the TV screen. Probably the most famous iceberg among those shown in films is the one that sank the Titanic. I still couldn’t understand how the sailors didn’t notice the huge floating block of ice. That's when I became interested in the formation and structure of icebergs.

What is an iceberg and how is it formed?

Floating ice blocks are formed by breaking off from glaciers (shelf, cover, outlet). In the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth, the birthplace of icebergs is considered to be the Greenland glaciers, which release up to 300 km³ of ice per year into the Atlantic Ocean. Greenland icebergs look like real ice mountains with a pyramidal or dome shape. These icebergs reach up to 40° north latitude, but sometimes end up further south, floating onto transatlantic sea routes and posing a threat to ships. As I already mentioned, in 1912, the Titanic sank due to a collision with an iceberg.

The Antarctic ice sheet is creating more icebergs. They float in the ocean for 6–12 years, then they fragment, melt and shrink. The most famous icebergs in Antarctica are table icebergs; they have vertical walls with horizontal layers of firn and flat tops.

Colored ice mountains

I would never have thought that icebergs could be different colors. But it is so. The color of an iceberg directly indicates its age. The color of the iceberg can be:

• matte white;
• white with a blue tint;
• light pink;
• black.

Matte white icebergs are the youngest (just broken off); as they become saturated with air, they acquire a bluish tint. In addition, do not be surprised by the striped or marbled color of the ice.

Black Glacier Shard

The black iceberg was first reported in print by James Cook. Later, other sailors talked about black blocks near Antarctica. As it turned out, the black color of the icebergs is associated with the activity of volcanoes in the South Shetland Islands. The ice is covered with a layer of volcanic dust, which is not washed off even by salty sea water.

The origin of this iceberg isn't the most romantic, but I think it looks amazing!

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When they talk about icebergs, a scene from the movie “Titanic” immediately pops into my head, when the largest steamship in the world at that time, colliding with a small iceberg, crashed. It's a terrible picture, to be honest with you. But how is it that a seemingly small piece of ice caused so much trouble... But not everything is so simple, icebergs keep many secrets and mysteries.

The concept of icebergs

An iceberg is a large, free-floating piece of ice in the ocean. Huge blocks of ice break off from the ice edges and drift under the influence of currents and winds. Icebergs usually form near Greenland and off the coast of Antarctica. Thus, depending on the place of birth, such groups of icebergs are called Southern or Northern. It is impossible to find out exactly how long there are icebergs in the world at the moment, since this figure is constantly changing. Icebergs can reach enormous sizes, so I learned that in 2000 an iceberg with an area of ​​11 thousand square meters broke off from Antarctica!!!

Types of Icebergs

There are several types of icebergs, including:

• shelf icebergs;
• icebergs from outlet glaciers;
• icebergs of cover glaciers.

The first type is huge in size and has a flat surface. Place of birth: Antarctica. The second type can be found both in the south and in the north. The form can be very different. The third type of icebergs has a flat surface with a bevel on one side.

I was surprised when I learned that some large icebergs can even form internal lakes, their own rivers and caves!!!

Global warming

Recently, more and more ice giants have begun to form on the planet. Plus, the new icebergs have become much larger than their predecessors. This is one of the signs of global warming on Earth; glaciers are disappearing. Huge blocks simply thaw from the glaciers and drift in the ocean, slowly melting. Such natural antics entail a lot of problems.

Thus, according to scientists, every hundred years, the level of the World Ocean rises by 1 meter. In 5 thousand years, when all the glaciers melt, almost all the land will go under water.

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I really enjoy rereading Hemingway. And recently I remembered that one of his stories, “The Old Man and the Sea,” is called an iceberg work, because part of it is always in sight, but most of it is hidden under water and is a mystery. I became very interested in how this mystery was born, and why so many sea vessels suffer from them.

How are icebergs born?

The main birthplace of these ice mountains is Antarctica, but there are also those that break off from ice shelves in the Arctic. Although, it is true, it is worth saying that Antarctic icebergs are much larger and more dangerous than their Arctic brothers. There are several types of icebergs in nature, but almost all of them are formed by the sliding of ice crust into the sea or ocean, where they float until nothing remains of them.

Under blocks of ice, softer layers can form, similar in density to honey, or even entire rivers, which provoke this movement. And sometimes very old layers break through and shift new ones, which, under the weight of their weight, also begin to slide into the ocean.

The process of education occurs at a certain speed. And this speed can be influenced by the following factors:

• global warming;
• changes in air circulation in the atmosphere;
• earthquakes;
• nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, etc.

Icebergs today

Not much time has passed since the Titanic sank. And science has advanced, making it possible to determine the location of these ice mountains as quickly as possible. But this does not completely solve the problem, especially since they are increasing in number and size. Due to increasing temperatures and certain geological processes, larger and larger icebergs began to break off and float into the vastness of the World Ocean. For example, a piece with an area of ​​11,000 square kilometers broke off from the Ross Glacier in 2000. Also, when they melt, something that has been stored in them for many centuries is released, including viruses.

Our Earth is called the blue planet. And not by chance. After all, 70% of the earth's surface is water. Water exists not only in liquid, but also in solid state (at negative temperatures). Solid water is ice, glaciers that make up the Earth's ice shell. Glaciers are perennial masses of ice formed by the accumulation and transformation of snow, which move under the influence of gravity and take the form of streams, convex sheets or floating slabs (ice shelves). Polar glaciers almost always reach the oceans and seas and actively interact with them, which is why they are called “marine”. Glaciers can invade cold, shallow seas, moving onto the continental shelf. The ice sinks into the water, which leads to the formation of ice shelves - floating slabs consisting of firn (compressed porous snow) and ice. Icebergs periodically break off from them. At contact with the sea, the movement of ice streams accelerates, their ends float up, forming floating tongues, which also become the source of a huge number of icebergs.

“Ice” in German means ice, “berg” means mountain. Icebergs are large fragments of glaciers that descend from land to the sea. They are carried far away by sea currents. And it’s amazing - sometimes the ice mountains seem to float against the current. This happens because only an eighth or ninth of the entire iceberg rises above the surface of the water, the rest is immersed deep in the water, where the current is sometimes opposite to that on the surface.

Translated into Russian, the word “iceberg” means “ice mountain”. These are truly floating mountains of ice, born from glaciers sliding into the sea. The end of the glacier hangs over the sea for some time. It is undermined by tides, sea currents, and winds. Finally it breaks off and falls into the water with a crash. Every year, ice streams form tens of cubic kilometers of ice per year. All Greenland glaciers annually throw out more than 300 km3 of ice into the ocean, ice streams and ice shelves in Antarctica - at least 2 thousand km3.

Greenland icebergs- often real ice mountains of a dome-shaped or pyramidal shape. They can rise above the water by 70 - 100 m, which is no more than 20-30% of their volume, the remaining 70-80% is hidden under water. With the East Greenland and Labrador Currents, masses of icebergs are carried up to 40-500 north latitude, in some cases even further south.

Encountering icebergs in the ocean is dangerous. After all, its underwater part is not visible. In 1912, the large passenger steamer Titanic sailed from America to Europe, collided with an iceberg in the fog and sank. But it happened that in Antarctic waters icebergs served the Yuri Dolgoruky whaling flotilla well. Severe storms prevented sailors from reloading finished products onto a refrigerator and taking fuel from a tanker. And then the sailors saw two icebergs nearby. There were high waves all around, and between them there was only a slight swell. The sailors risked standing between the icebergs and, under their protection, performing the necessary overload. It seems that this is the only case when icebergs helped sailors. But icebergs are not only a majestic natural phenomenon. They can serve as a source of fresh water, which people are increasingly lacking. Projects are already being developed to “catch” and tow icebergs to waterless areas such as Saudi Arabia and South-West Africa.

Any creation of nature is unique and inimitable. Ice mountains in the ocean are an unforgettably beautiful and majestic picture. They have the most bizarre shapes and are amazingly colored. They resemble giant crystals of precious stones: bright green, dark blue, turquoise. This is how the sun's rays are refracted in perfectly clean polar ice floes saturated with air bubbles. Because of these bubbles, which are much lighter than water, icebergs are immersed in water only five-sixths of their volume.

The true size of icebergs far exceeds imagination. In the Arctic, these mountains of ice rise above sea level by an average of 70 m, sometimes reaching a height of 190 m, and the length of some of them reaches several kilometers. The drifting station “North Pole - 6” and the first American Arctic stations in the Arctic Ocean operated on such ice islands. The flat-topped masses of Antarctic icebergs have an average surface height of 100 m, and some of them rise above the water by 500 m and have a length of 100 km or more.

Sea currents and winds pick up icebergs and carry them from the polar seas to the ocean. In the Southern Hemisphere, large Antarctic icebergs penetrate particularly far into the Atlantic Ocean, here they reach 260 south latitude, i.e. up to the latitude of Rio de Janeiro, in the Pacific and Indian oceans, icebergs do not float north of 50-400 south latitude.

In the Northern Hemisphere, especially many Arctic icebergs are carried by the East Greenland and Labrador currents into the Atlantic Ocean, where they reach the latitude of England. And here, on the routes of busy transatlantic shipping, they pose a serious threat to ships. But modern ships are equipped with sophisticated instruments that warn at a great distance of the approach of any obstacle, including icebergs.

With the help of icebergs, as we have already said, it would be possible to solve the problems of supplying the arid regions of the Earth with fresh water.

The famous American oceanographer and engineer John Isaacs came up with a tempting idea - to tow a large iceberg to the shores of water-stricken California, and use the water generated when the iceberg melts to irrigate dry lands. It can be assumed that the colossal mass of ice, which will melt very slowly even in the hot Californian climate, can cause increased condensation of atmospheric moisture and additional precipitation. This will lead to an increase in water reserves in the reservoir and a slight decrease in the dry climate on the coastline adjacent to the iceberg. This could be used in other arid areas of the world, most notably in Australia. The largest icebergs are born from the giant glaciers of Antarctica.

From time to time, deep cracks form in the glacier, and it splits into separate blocks. The birth of an iceberg is a spectacular sight. A huge mass of ice falls into the water with a roar reminiscent of a monstrous explosion. Once in the water, the iceberg sets off to swim. Currents sooner or later carry it to warmer latitudes, where it is washed by warm waters and it slowly melts under the rays of the sun. But especially large icebergs manage to move far to the south if they are Arctic icebergs, or far to the north if they are Antarctic. In just one year, about 26 thousand icebergs break off from the Arctic ice cover. The largest iceberg was recorded in the Ross Sea in October 1987. It broke off from the ice shell of Antarctica. The area of ​​the giant is 153 by 36 km. Therefore, in the open ocean they are constantly monitored by a special service. Icebergs can reach a height of 100m above the sea surface, but most of them are under water. An ice mountain floating in warm waters is usually shrouded in dense fog - this is water vapor from warmer air condensing over its cold surface. In 1912, the large passenger steamer Titanic, which was crossing the Atlantic Ocean, collided with an iceberg in thick fog. The ship on which two thousand two hundred passengers were sailing to America sank. One and a half thousand people died. Many years later, in 1959, the Danish ship Hedtof suffered the same fate. It also sank in the North Atlantic. An iceberg is a kind of fresh water reservoir.

Even a relatively small ice mountain, 150 m thick, 2 km long and half a kilometer wide, contains almost 150 million tons of fresh water, and of very high quality. This amount of water would be enough for a whole month for such a gigantic city as Moscow, with a population of millions. In the USA, projects are being developed to transport icebergs to the multimillion-dollar city of Los Angeles, to the port cities of South America, Africa, and Australia. Of course, there are many difficulties. We need very powerful tugboats, we need to learn how to securely secure the iceberg with cables, and when delivering it to the port, make sure that it does not melt too quickly. It is important to lay out the most advantageous path for the iceberg in the ocean in order to take advantage of favorable currents and winds.

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An iceberg is a huge floe of ice floating in the world's oceans.

Where do icebergs come from?

Huge pieces of ice break off from the glaciers that cover the continents and float freely. For example, northern icebergs break off from the Greenland ice sheet, and southern ones from Antarctica, and southern icebergs are much larger in size than northern ones. Not only does the duration of existence and the range of its voyage depend on the properties of an iceberg, it also depends on factors such as the direction and speed of the current in the ocean.

The largest in size and frozen down to -60 C, the icebergs of Antarctica “live” for many years, sometimes even more than a decade. Whereas Greenland icebergs are slightly smaller in size and their deep freezing temperature reaches -30C. They live much shorter, and their melting period is 2-3 years.

Ice is much lighter than water, which explains why even the deepest bodies of water do not freeze completely in winter. If it were the other way around, then, in fact, the ice falling to the bottom would displace the lower layers of water to the surface, and gradually all the water in the reservoir would simply freeze.

But when water freezes, the exact opposite happens. When water transforms into ice, its volume increases by about ten percent, and as a result, the density of ice is much less than that of water. This explains why ice floats on the surface.

At considerable depths of the world's oceans, the water temperature is below zero degrees, but the water there does not freeze. This is interpreted by the pressure that the upper layers of water form.

For the first time, Mikhail Lomonosov answered the question why icebergs do not sink. The density of the iceberg is 920 kg/m?. Additionally, an iceberg or block of ice is made of fresh water and is separated from ice shelves.

Due to the fact that sea water is denser than an iceberg and does not sink completely. And then it is important to know that only a tenth of it floats on the surface of the water - the top, everything else - 90% of this block of ice is hidden under water.

Meeting him is very dangerous for ships on the high seas. If the ship does not notice the moving iceberg in time, then in a collision it can receive very serious damage or even die.

Research work on the topic:

“Amazing natural phenomena. Iceberg."

performed

3 "B" class

Municipal educational institution "Secondary school No. 83"

Saratov

Research topic:“Amazing natural phenomena. Iceberg".

Purpose of the study: learn more about the world around us. Understand the connection between natural phenomena and humans. Learn to appreciate what surrounds us

Tasks: Find information on this issue. Understand what benefits can be derived from this natural phenomenon.

1. Introduction.

2. Birth and life cycle of icebergs.

3. Movement of icebergs.

4. How icebergs affect our lives.

5. Benefits of icebergs.

6. Interesting facts.

7. Threat.

8. Conclusion.

9. List of references.

Introduction.

In our environmental lesson we studied the properties of water. I learned that this unique liquid can be in three states:

liquid

gaseous

hard

It was the solid state that interested me, because the ice into which it turns does not sink, but floats. I thought, how can this be? It turns out that the process of freezing water is very unusual. As the water in lakes and seas cools, it becomes heavier and moves downward, but when the water reaches the freezing point, the reverse process occurs. Now it becomes lighter and colder water rises. Having turned into ice, it floats on the surface. I decided to conduct an experiment. I froze an ice cube and then threw it into a glass of water. Surprisingly, the ice cube floated on the surface. The piece of ice on the water reminded me of the icebergs I saw on TV. But how little I know about them. I decided to do a survey among my friends what they know about icebergs. I interviewed 15 people. Here is the survey table:

As we can see, few people have an accurate understanding of icebergs. I myself first learned about icebergs when I watched the movie Titanic. I remember the moment of the collision well.

“ICEBERG is straight ahead!” - shouts the alarmed lookout. The sailors on the captain's bridge responded immediately. The engines reversed to avoid a collision. But it's too late. The starboard side of the ship received a fatal hole.

I asked myself: how and why do icebergs appear? What can be done to protect people at sea from the danger of collision with it? And how can they influence people's lives? I started looking for information on this issue, and this is what I found out.

Birth and life cycle

Icebergs are like giant ice cubes of fresh water. They are born from glaciers and cover ice in the North and Antarctica.

One of the places where icebergs “emerge”

I was surprised to learn that the Antarctic ice cap produces about 90 percent of the earth's icebergs. It also produces the largest icebergs. Sometimes they rise 100 meters above the water level and can reach more than 300 kilometers in length and 90 kilometers in width. Large icebergs can weigh between 2 million and 40 million tons. This is power! And like snowflakes, no two icebergs are alike. Some are table-shaped, that is, with flat tops. Others are wedge-shaped, pointed or dome-shaped.

Usually only one-seventh or one-tenth of the iceberg is visible above the water. This is especially true for flat-topped icebergs. This all reminds me of my ice cube floating in a glass of water. However, the ratio of ice above and below water is different, depending on the shape of the iceberg.

In general, Antarctic icebergs have flat tops and sides, while Arctic icebergs are often irregularly shaped and turret-like. Arctic icebergs, most of which originate from the vast ice cap that covers Greenland, pose the greatest threat to humans as they can drift along the transatlantic shipping route.

How do icebergs form? In the northern and southern regions of the earth, the resulting snow cover often does not have time to melt, and cold rain does not evaporate. This causes the layers of snow that accumulate on the surface of the earth to turn into glacial ice. Year after year, as more snow and rain fall, constant compaction occurs. This creates massive ice fields over vast areas of land, such as in Greenland. Eventually, the ice becomes so thick and hard that it causes the heavy glacier to slowly slide down the high slopes into the valleys and then out to sea. The age of the iceberg from the moment of snow compaction at the sources of the glaciers until the start of drift is calculated in centuries.

I imagined a river of ice moving very slowly over the uneven terrain, like cold molasses. Already containing vertical cracks, this giant ice sheet will be a spectacular sight once it reaches the coastline. Due to the simultaneous effects of tides, wave movement and underwater destruction, a huge block of freshwater ice, which can extend approximately 40 kilometers out to sea, will break away from the glacier with a deafening roar. And then the iceberg was born! A person who observed it described it as a “floating crystal castle.” This must be an amazing sight.

In the Arctic, between 10,000 and 15,000 icebergs form each year. However, relatively few reach the southern waters off Newfoundland. What happens to those icebergs that reach this area?

Movement icebergs

Most of the icebergs that break away from the massif are carried away by the ocean current on a long journey, then turns some to the west, others to the south and, ultimately, brings them to the Labrador Sea, nicknamed Iceberg Alley. It would be great to ride on such a unique ice ship. Icebergs that survive after drifting for approximately two years from their birthplace into the open Atlantic towards the Labrador Sea and Newfoundland last a very short time. Once in warm waters, they begin to quickly deteriorate: melt, shrink and break into pieces. When I carried out the experiment, the ice cube really melted quickly.

It is typical that during the day the ice melts and water collects in the cracks. At night, the water freezes and expands in these cracks, causing the iceberg to break into pieces. This dramatically changes the shape of the iceberg and moves its center of gravity. Then the block of ice turns over in the water, presenting a completely different ice sculpture.

As this cycle continues and the ice castles shrink in size, breaking into pieces, they give rise to their own icebergs the size of an average house, and growlers the size of a small room. Some smaller growlers can even flounder in the shallows of shorelines and small coves.

However, the environment in more southern waters will cause the iceberg to rapidly disintegrate into small pieces of freshwater ice that will become part of the great ocean. However, until this happens, icebergs must be handled with care.

How icebergs affect our life

Fishermen who depend on the ocean for their livelihoods say icebergs are a nuisance and a danger. One fisherman said: “Icebergs may be a tourist attraction, but they are a threat to fishermen.” The fishermen returned to check their nets only to find that an iceberg, carried by the tide or current, had torn their expensive nets and released their catch.

Icebergs deserve respect. “I advise you to keep your distance,” says the captain of the sailing ship. “Icebergs are very unpredictable!” Tall icebergs can break off huge chunks, or when the icebergs hit the bottom, large chunks can break off and float up towards you. The iceberg can also spin and capsize - all of which could spell disaster for anyone who ventures too close!”

Icebergs scraping the ocean floor is another cause for concern. “If the iceberg's sediment is almost equal to the depth of the water, then it is known that its base can dig long and deep channels. In oil-producing areas, this has a devastating effect on bottom-dwelling installations such as wellheads,” said one person who observed the icebergs.

I thought about how I could prevent the damage that icebergs could cause. I heard that in some cities they use lasers to knock icicles off the roofs of houses. This makes the job easier for the people who keep track of it. I wondered if something like this could be used to cut off pieces of the iceberg that could cause harm. It would also be good to track wandering icebergs and warn people about a possible collision with them. But it turns out that such work is already underway.

International ice patrol

After the tragedy of the ocean liner Titanic, the International Ice Patrol was formed in 1914 to locate icebergs, predict their movements based on knowledge of ocean currents and wind directions, and then warn people about the ice. In order to provide protection from these "crystal" giants of the sea, every effort is being made to accumulate knowledge about the characteristics and behavior of ice. The technology used includes visual and radar surveys from aircraft, ice detection reports from commercial vessels, satellite photography, oceanographic surveys and forecasts.

The benefits of icebergs

Maybe we would live better without icebergs. However, not everything associated with icebergs is bad. I found information on how you can use icebergs for the benefit of people. One Newfoundlander noted: “A long time ago, when not everyone had a refrigerator, people in some coastal villages would bring small pieces of iceberg and put them in their wells to keep the water as cold as ice. They also served another purpose: chunks of ice were stored in boxes with sawdust to be used in making homemade ice cream.”

How else could we apply them in our lives? I'm thinking, since icebergs are frozen fresh water, couldn't we use it to deliver it to people who need it? It would be nice to attach, not the largest iceberg, to a cargo ship and tow it to the shore. Of course, part of the iceberg will melt along the way, but some part will float to its destination and can be useful. Or, on the spot, right in the sea, cut off a piece, melt it and pass it through a filter, and only then deliver it in bottles to the shore.

Since these “ice palaces” are impressive with their beauty, many people want to see all this beauty with their own eyes. On Newfoundland's rugged coastline, they look for a spot with panoramic views of the Atlantic to admire the giants of the sea. Cameras are clicking to capture this moment on film. Icebergs come in amazing sizes and even colors. I would love and with great pleasure to look at them in their natural environment.

By the way, the pale blue tint of some icebergs appears due to the re-freezing of melt water, which fills the gullies in the icebergs. Ancient ice blocks reflect sunlight and change color depending on the angle at which the light hits them.

Some icebergs are a favorite habitat of penguins.

Interesting Facts.

To understand the power and grandeur of icebergs, I want to give some interesting facts about their size.

Two or three medium-sized icebergs contain a mass of water equal to the annual flow of the Volga (the annual flow of the Volga is 252 cubic kilometers).

The largest icebergs are found in Antarctica. In 1956, the American icebreaker Glacier circumnavigated an iceberg 350 km long and 40 km wide.

In October 1999, an iceberg the size of London broke off from Antarctica.

90% of all fresh water on our planet is stored in the eternal Antarctic ice. Almost 5 thousand icebergs break off from Antarctic glaciers every year - this is 100 million tons of frozen fresh water. Among them there are sometimes giants, comparable in size to the islands. For example, in 1956, an iceberg was discovered in the South Pacific Ocean, the length of which was 335 km and the width of 97 km. And in the 58th year of the last century, a record high iceberg with a height of 167 m was discovered near Greenland. Similar record holders appear constantly. In the fall of 1987, an ice floe 159 km long and 40 km wide, with a total area of ​​6200 km and a thickness of more than 220 m, broke off from the ice sheet of Antarctica. The fresh water flooded from this iceberg would be enough to meet the needs of Moscow for about 650 years. Currently, this iceberg is gradually falling apart, drifting in the Ross Sea, and has a size of 95 x 35 km, with a total area of ​​3365 km.

Threat.

I was very concerned that this amazing natural phenomenon was in danger. The fact is that due to the “greenhouse effect”, glaciers and icebergs are rapidly melting. It would be a shame if over time people will no longer be able to admire these floating castles. In addition, this poses a huge threat to the entire planet. After all, if all the glaciers melt, the level of the world's oceans will rise significantly, which may lead to various natural disasters. I tried to find out what the “greenhouse effect” is and what causes it.

The Earth's atmosphere, like the glass of a greenhouse, does not release the sun's heat. The sun heats the earth, but the heat carried by infrared radiation cannot escape freely from the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases block the radiation and reflect it back to the ground, causing the air near its surface to warm up.

I am very sorry that our planet may be in danger. Since many people believe that this problem is caused by man, can't it be solved by man himself? What can I personally do? It turns out that a lot depends on everyone’s efforts. For example, car use and deforestation contribute to global warming. Our family doesn't have a car, but those who do might think they can contribute to the environment by using it only when necessary and walking occasionally. Also, the energy consumed by various devices in standby mode leads to increased operation of the power plant, which releases gas that contributes to the “greenhouse effect.” Therefore, I personally can make sure that I do not leave appliances in “standby” mode in our house and use electricity wisely. I am glad that I can contribute to the conservation of our planet and the icebergs that I have met.

Conclusion.

During my research work, I learned a lot of interesting information about icebergs, how they appear, and what they are like. As we gaze upon these towering, sparkling wonders of the sea we marvel at these amazing creations. I would really like people on our planet to learn to see the beauty of natural phenomena, appreciate what surrounds us and remember that man and nature are interconnected. The main thing is to learn to live in harmony with each other!

Bibliography:

1. Children's encyclopedia "Cyril and Methodius"

2. Periodical publication of Awake magazine.

3. Website: www.