Iceberg Motion

Most iceberg material herein is provided by Professor Doug MacAyeal from the University of Chicago

Here is a movie in Quicktime format that shows the formation of the C-18 and C-19 icebergs. Note that this is a very long sequence of over 220 images that may take some time to download. Also note that this animation does not have any navigation corrections made to the images (so the Ross Ice Shelf jumps a bit).
Here is the latest two year movie of the iceberg as seen from the NOAA series and some DMSP series satellites from March of 2000 to March of 2002. Note that this is a very long sequence of over 220 images that may take some time to download. Also note that this animation does not have any navigation corrections made to the images (so the Ross Ice Shelf jumps a bit). The amination looks best if the speed is increased to nearly 90% of the full speed.
This animation shows the outlines of B15a, C16, Ross Island, Ross Ice Shelf ice front, Beaufort Island, Franklin Island and the Victoria Land coast through the period from January 25, 2001 to December 31, 2001. Each frame of the animation shows the position of B15a at 00:00 UTC on each day of the period. The red line segment emanating from the station (Mother 1) on B15a represents the wind direction. The length of the line segment is proportional to the wind speed, when the wind speed is below 3.6 m/s; and is of fixed (maximum) length when the wind speed is greater than or equal to 3.6 m/s. During periods when B15a was colliding with the Ross Ice Shelf or Ross Island, overlapping occurs between the outlines of B15a and the feature being collided with. This overlap represents the region where damage to the iceberg or the Ross Ice Shelf led to "trimming" of the outline. The initial outlines ob B15a and the Ross Ice Shelf (based on their 25 January, 2001, status) were used, however, in all frames of the animation. This animation was made using Matlab (Stereographic projection, N to the left) and data collected by the iceberg research project performed through the collaboration of University of Wisconsin with University of Chicago. (Quicktime Movie)
This animation is similar to the movie above, except that satellite imagery is used as background and outline for the various objects in the Ross Sea. Each frame represents one day during the Jan 25, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2001 time period. This animation was created using field data from the iceberg research project by Kelly Brunt, of the Raytheon Polar Services Corporation. (Quicktime Movie)
This animation shows the response of the sea ice and icebergs in the Southwestern Ross Sea during a 5 day period surrounding a period of strong Southerly winds in the Ross Sea. The animation begins on or about 12 December and lasts till about 17 December, 2001. This animation was obtained from the "ice research" page of the JPL/NASA web site. For attribution and citation information, please refer to the JPL/NASA web site. (Quicktime Movie)
Here is a sample movie from NOAA-12, -14, -15, and -16 showing the movement of the icebergs just to the north of Ross Island, Antarctica as well as the rapid growth and the slow decay of the fast ice between McMurdo Sound and the Drygalski Ice Tongue. (From March 20, 2001 to October 24, 2001)
Animations of sea ice and icebergs - as seen from scatterometer data from Dr. Mark Drinkwater, ESA and Dr. David Ling, BYU (Animations are in AVI and animated GIF format)
Animations of the Ross and Ronne Ice Shelf Icebergs {simulated}. (Animations are in Quicktime format; summaries are Adobe PDF files):
- A-38 for 60 days (1216 Kb) with a summary
- B-15 for 365 days (2073 Kb) with a summary
- A-43 and A-44 for 360 days (1055 Kb) with a summary
This display is an interferogram derived from the ERS satellite showing what was going on in the area B-15 broke away from in January of 1996, four years before B-15 was created.
Here are the model domain and model mesh used to simulate the iceberg's motion.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants Nos. OPP-0537827, OPP-0338147, and OPP-0230028. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Science Foundation.