An iceberg (a partial) loan translation from Dutch ijsberg (literally: mountain of ice), cognate to Danish Isbjerg, Swedish Isberg, Low Saxon Iesbarg and German Eisberg) is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water.

Since the density of pure water ice is ca. 920 kg/m³, and that of sea water ca. 1025 kg/m³, typically, around 90% of the volume of an iceberg is under water, and that portion's shape can be difficult to surmise from looking at what is visible above the surface. This has led to the expression \"tip of the iceberg\", generally applied to a problem or difficulty, meaning that the visible trouble is only a small manifestation of a larger problem.

Facts

Common name: Iceberg, Berg, Bergie; Average height: ranges from one metre above sea level to more than 75 metres above sea level.; Icebergs are comprised of pure fresh water.; The glaciers of western Greenland, where 90% of Newfoundland's icebergs originate, are amongst the fastest moving in the world, up to seven kilometres per year.; Between 10,000 to 15,000 icebergs are calved each year.; The glacial ice that icebergs are made of may be more than 15,000 years old.; The average iceberg weight for the Grand Banks area is 100 000 to 200 000 tonnes and is about the size of a cubic 15-storey building.; The interior temperature of icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador is in the range of −15 to −20°C.; Ninety-three percent of the world's mass of icebergs is found surrounding the Antarctic.; The tallest known iceberg in the North Atlantic was 168 metres high.;

(Source: Canadian Geographic Just the facts)

History

The first to explain the formation of icebergs was the Russian peasant prodigy Mikhail Lomonosov. In the 20th century, several scientific bodies were established to study and monitor the icebergs. The International Ice Patrol, formed in 1914 in response to the Titanic disaster, monitors iceberg dangers near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and provide the \"limits of all known ice\" in that vicinity to the maritime community.

Monitoring

Icebergs are monitored worldwide by the U.S. National Ice Center (NIC), established in 1995, which produces analyses and forecasts of Arctic, Antarctic, Great Lakes, and Chesapeake Bay ice conditions. More than 95% of the data used in its sea ice analyses are derived from the remote sensors on polar-orbiting satellites that survey these remote regions of the Earth.