B-15A, B-15J, B-15K, and C-16 icebergs in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

As the southern summer draws to a close, the mammoth B-15A iceberg is beginning to move away from McMurdo Sound and the Drygalski Ice Tongue. From November 2004 to January 2005, the iceberg, the long white slab of ice just below the center of the image, blocked McMurdo Sound so that the layer of ice covering the Sound could not escape into the Ross Sea. In December and January, the iceberg began to drift on a collision course with the Drygalski Ice Tongue, the long sliver of ice extending from the land on the left side of the image. Before hitting the ice tongue, B-15A stalled, apparently grounded mere kilometers from Drygalski.

On April 4, 2005, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite observed the iceberg drifting out of McMurdo Sound into the Ross Sea. Around the iceberg, the sea ice has begun to freeze. McMurdo Sound is already solid ice while the sea to the right of the iceberg still has dark lines of open water between the freezing sea ice.

The B-15A iceberg is the largest segment of the B-15 iceberg, which calved from the Ross Ice Shelf in 2000. Other remnants of B-15—B-15J and B-15K—are grouped just right of center along the lower edge of the image with the C-16 iceberg.

---

Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published April 14, 2005
Data acquired April 4, 2005

Source:

Terra > MODIS