Antarctica's Striped Icebergs

Susan at A Southern Dreamer is hosting Outdoor Wednesday. Thank you Susan, this is my favorite memo. I have so many pretty outdoor pictures I want to share. Be sure to check out her site and view the other outdoor posts.

The photographs of the icebergs were taken by Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen from aboard a research vessel. The iceberg photographs were snapped in an area several hundred miles north of the Antarctic.

The expedition came across a number of unusual ice formations.

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.

The "ice wave" photographs are not related to the striped iceberg images and were taken at a different time and place by a different photographer, scientist Tony Travouillon.

While these photos resemble frozen waves, they are actually ice formations created by glaciation, melting and refreezing, and other natural forces, over very long periods of time.

Having the internet means that we get to see something that we never imagined.