Anna and I went hunting on the weekend... iceberg hunting. Being in St. John's, Newfoundland for a few more months, we thought it would be great to try to see some of these rare, beauties of nature. So, we rented a car and made our way up and down the extreme east coast of Newfoundland, an area known as "Iceberg Alley". From about now until the end of June or thereabouts, icebergs that have cracked off the Arctic Ocean ice shelf migrate south until they melt, usually in some place a bit south of here.
Sometimes, like in about 1996 or so, I remember an iceberg that came aground near St. John's harbour. I was so big that once it settled there, it remained fixed for the rest of the summer and slowly melted, meanwhile creating a little micro-climate (left) in the eastern Avalon region (a few degrees colder!). This year, we haven't seen anything so massive and imposing yet, but we did, still see some impressive mountains of ice in the distance and some near-to-shore, so called "Bergy Bits", or "little" icebergs, with an above surface expression of approximately the size of a house!
We located these icebergs with the help of a neat website called icebergfinder.com. They give some information about icebergs in general, but notably, the location of icebergs identified either by eye, or even satellites. T
his information really narrows down your hunting locations. The best location by far, was in a place called Bay Bulls, just south of St. John's. We parked the car and hiked for about 45 minutes along the East Coast Trail to a wonderfully, secluded, peaceful place, where the sun shone brightly in the spring sky and not a cloud was in sight. The waves lapped along the craggy rocks and we sat in awe of our little Bergy Bit. Just, a little over a stone's throw away, we could see the iceberg gently rocking with the waves, with a beautiful green tint around it's base.
It's a spectacular thing to witness to tell you the truth, the iceberg. And, we did spend quite a while ruminating over and discussing how much longer we have until the last icebergs travel down the coast of Canada. Will we live to see a day when there are no more in the Northern hemisphere? At the rate of ice melting in the Arctic, and assuming at least some positive feedback mechanisms kick in, it is likely that by mid-century, the Arctic Ocean will be ice free in summer. That means, more or less, no icebergs. I'm not sure if Iceberg Alley has become more crowded over the years, but it would be an interesting thing to look into. I will probably look into this in more detail.
Peace,
Grant
Sometimes, like in about 1996 or so, I remember an iceberg that came aground near St. John's harbour. I was so big that once it settled there, it remained fixed for the rest of the summer and slowly melted, meanwhile creating a little micro-climate (left) in the eastern Avalon region (a few degrees colder!). This year, we haven't seen anything so massive and imposing yet, but we did, still see some impressive mountains of ice in the distance and some near-to-shore, so called "Bergy Bits", or "little" icebergs, with an above surface expression of approximately the size of a house!We located these icebergs with the help of a neat website called icebergfinder.com. They give some information about icebergs in general, but notably, the location of icebergs identified either by eye, or even satellites. T
his information really narrows down your hunting locations. The best location by far, was in a place called Bay Bulls, just south of St. John's. We parked the car and hiked for about 45 minutes along the East Coast Trail to a wonderfully, secluded, peaceful place, where the sun shone brightly in the spring sky and not a cloud was in sight. The waves lapped along the craggy rocks and we sat in awe of our little Bergy Bit. Just, a little over a stone's throw away, we could see the iceberg gently rocking with the waves, with a beautiful green tint around it's base.Newfoundland is well-known for its icebergs. Not surprisingly, in this globalized world, we even bottle Iceberg water. Note the hint of cynicism.
It's a spectacular thing to witness to tell you the truth, the iceberg. And, we did spend quite a while ruminating over and discussing how much longer we have until the last icebergs travel down the coast of Canada. Will we live to see a day when there are no more in the Northern hemisphere? At the rate of ice melting in the Arctic, and assuming at least some positive feedback mechanisms kick in, it is likely that by mid-century, the Arctic Ocean will be ice free in summer. That means, more or less, no icebergs. I'm not sure if Iceberg Alley has become more crowded over the years, but it would be an interesting thing to look into. I will probably look into this in more detail.
Peace,
Grant
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