to move up and down
Why do you want to climb an iceberg? Because it’s there, of course
On a Wednesday afternoon in St. John’s, N.L., Justin Emberley saw a 45-metre iceberg floating less than 100 feet from shore in Quidi Vidi Harbour. He called up his friend, Kevin Le Morzadec, a French citizen doing his Ph.D. on the subject of glacier modeling in Newfoundland, and said, “Let’s climb it.” And climb it they did. They put on their wetsuits and life vests, threw their ice picks and clamp-ons in their bags, jumped in the frigid ocean and swam to the iceberg. The National Post’s Kristin Annable spoke Thursday to Mr. Le Morzadec, as Mr. Emberley listened nearby. (Photos: Jerry Curtis)
NASA says it has captured an image of a massive iceberg drifting toward Newfoundland.
Officials with the U.S. space agency said the 55-square-kilometre ice island has been slowly headed toward the eastern shore of the province since it broke off of the Petermann Glacier on Greenland’s northwest coast last August.
The iceberg, known as Petermann Ice Island-A, was originally about the size of Manhattan, but has gradually shrunk because of melting and calving — when pieces of the berg break away.
NASA said the iceberg was not likely to hit land, but would probably run aground on the sea floor just off the coast. It does pose a danger to offshore oil rigs and shipping traffic, officials said.
