Pleneau Island is located west of Booth Island at the southern end of the Lemaire Channel and features an array of iceberg scenery. In fact, an astonishing ninety-three percent of the world’s mass of icebergs is found surrounding the Antarctic. The word “iceberg” actually comes from partial Dutch translation meaning “ice mountain.” The term iceberg refers to chunks of ice larger than 5 meters (16 feet) and smaller chunks of ice are known as bergy bites (how cute!) and growlers. While Antarctic icebergs last typically ten years and Arctic bergs about two years, what’s interesting to note is the glacial ice that icebergs are made of could be more than 15,000 years old!
Beautiful and tranquil, this photo was captured from Pleneau Island, at Pleneau Bay, from one of our 2011 Antarctica Expeditions
Got an ice photo of your own to share? Post it to twitter and tag with #IcePhoto! Follow Quark Expeditions on twitter @quarkexpedition where we share photos and videos and chat about all things polar!
Follow us: @QuarkExpedition on Twitter | QuarkExpeditions on Facebook