NASA MODIS Image of the Day: March 13, 2012 – Icebergs in the South Atlantic Ocean
At the end of summer, 2012, the South Atlantic Ocean held several icebergs.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of three large icebergs floating south of the South Sandwich Islands on March 7, 2012.
These three icebergs were likely calved off the coast of Antarctica, and are floating on the currents of the Southern Atlantic Ocean, drifting northwest towards South America. Speckles of bright white can be seen on the deep blue ocean water near the large icebergs. This is likely light reflecting off of several smaller icebergs in the area. Icebergs come in a wide variety of sizes. Smaller icebergs, about the size of an automobile, are called “growlers” and can be difficult to see from a boat, making them especially dangerous. Slightly larger icebergs – about the size of a house – are called “bergy bits”. After this, sizes descriptions are less colorful, and known as simply small, medium, large and very large.
