| Q. | Where icebergs come from? |
| A. |
Icebergs come from glaciers on the Greenland shore. Glaciers
are formed by thousands of years of snowfall accumulation, which
eventually turns into ice. About 10,000 to 15,000 icebergs are
created from these glaciers every year.
|
| Q. | How tall icebergs can get? |
| A. |
The tallest iceberg recorded is in the North Atlantic, and is 550 feet.
|
| Q. | Why smaller icebergs are more dangerous than bigger icebergs? |
| A. |
You might think that big icebergs are more dangerous, but that is not the case. Big icebergs can be seen easily by people on ships. The smaller icebergs (called growlers) can hide in the waves, making them difficult to see and more dangerous. 
|
| Q. | Why small icebergs are called “growlers”? |
| A. |
They are called growlers because of the sound they make when trapped air escapes as the iceberg melts, which sounds like the growl of an animal. |
| Q. | Why we don't shoot the icebergs, or blow them up, so they don’t get in the way of ships? |
| A. |
We have tried to destroy them by shooting them, bombing them from planes, and using explosives. We have even tried to paint them black. We have found that the safest way is to let the icebergs melt on their own.
|
| Q. | Why we don't mark the icebergs with paint to help us track them? |
| A. |
We have tried dye markings in the past. This didn’t work though, because the icebergs would melt and wash the dye off.
|
| Q. | Why we don't use ships to track icebergs? |
| A. |
Ships are no longer used to track icebergs because of the dangers involved
and due to the developement of airplanes that can safely fly long distances.
However, ships were used for tracking before these airplanes were developed.
|
| Q. | What kind of airplane is used to track icebergs? |
| A. |
The IIP currently uses the HC-130 Hercules airplane. Patrols can last more than 7 hours and cover more than 1600 miles during a patrol. That’s the distance from Washington D.C. to San Antonio, Texas (1590 miles) or to Denver, Colorado (1620 miles).
|
| Q. | What are the different shapes of icebergs? |
| A. |
Please click below to view the different iceberg shapes... Iceberg Shapes |
| Q. | What are the different sizes of icebergs? |
| A. |
Please click below to view the different iceberg sizes... Iceberg Sizes |