Proportions of a frozen giant
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Proportions of a frozen giant

by Jan-Marcus Nasse, Institute of Environmental Physics - Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

This photo was taken during an excursion on the sea ice of the Atka bay close to the German Antarctic Station Neumayer III. Ice bergs drift along the shelf ice coast at Neumayer in south-westerly direction. When the ocean freezes, these giant icy mountains get stuck in the sea ice. In the summer sun of Antartica they start to break apart and loose their initial tabular and geometric shape.
Despite a generous safety distance to the base of the ice berg where tides and its movements due to melt-induced changes of the centre of gravity of the iceberg break up the sea ice, humans still look tiny compared to these towering giants.