SearchOperation Icebridge is an ongoing NASA mission to observe and measure the ice at the poles. NASA uses airplanes and satellites to measure and monitor changes. Among their more unusual recent observations are:
Rectangular Icebergs
This October, flying over the northern Antarctic Peninsula, Jeremy Harbeck spotted a tabular iceberg. A tabular iceberg occurs when a large strip of ice breaks off, or calves, from an ice shelf. They have steep vertical sides and a flat top. The most unusual aspect of this one is that it appears to a perfect rectangle.
It is thought that this broke off the Larsen C ice shelf which last year calved an enormous iceberg about the size of Delaware.
Meteor Crater
Another recent discovery was a huge meteor impact crater under the ice in northwest Greenland. It was measured at 19 miles wide and 1,000 feet deep. Ice-penetrating radar helped the scientists make the discovery.
B-46 doesn’t sound like much of a name—but to those in the know who have seen it say it is a giant iceberg that broke off the Pine Island Glacier in late October. NASA estimates the surface area to be 66 square nautical miles. In the photograph you can just see the shadow of the aircraft in the bottom left corner.
