Iceberg B-9 was an

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...

that calved from Antarctica in 1987. It measured long and wide; it had a total area of , and is one of the longest icebergs ever recorded. This calving took place immediately east of the future calving site of

Iceberg B-15 Iceberg B-15 was the largest recorded iceberg by area. It measured around , with a surface area of , about the size of the island of Jamaica. Calved from the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica in March 2000, Iceberg B-15 broke up into smaller icebergs, ...

; it carried away

Little America V Little America was a series of Antarctic exploration bases from 1929 to 1958, located on the Ross Ice Shelf, south of the Bay of Whales. The coordinates are approximate. Little America I The first base in the series was established in January ...

which had been closed in December 1959. Starting in October 1987, Iceberg B-9 drifted for 22 months, covering on its journey. Initially, B-9 moved northwest for seven months, before being drawn southward by a

subsurface current A subsurface ocean current is an oceanic current that runs beneath surface currents. Examples include the Equatorial Undercurrents of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, the California Undercurrent, and the Agulhas Undercurrent, the deep t ...

that eventually led to its colliding with the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

in August 1988. It then made a radius

gyre In oceanography, a gyre () is any large system of circulating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determin ...

before resuming its northwest drift. It moved at an average speed of per day over the continental shelf, as measured by

NOAA-10 NOAA-10, known as NOAA-G before launch, was an American weather satellite operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for use in the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS). It was the t ...

and DMSP satellite positions, and by the

ARGOS Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

data buoy positions. In early August 1989, B-9 broke into three large pieces north of Cape Adare. These pieces were designated as B-9A, , B-9B, , and B-9C, . B-9A drifted east and was located about south of the

South Orkney Islands The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula In December 2003, it had made its way north and passed

South Georgia Island South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

to the east. B-9B drifted toward the

Mertz Glacier Mertz Glacier () is a heavily crevassed glacier in George V Coast of East Antarctica. It is the source of a glacial prominence that historically has extended northward into the Southern Ocean, the ''Mertz Glacial Tongue''. It is named in honor ...

on the

George V Coast George V Coast () is that portion of the coast of Antarctica lying between Point Alden, at 148°2′E, and Cape Hudson, at 153°45′E. Portions of this coast were sighted by the US Exploring Expedition in 1840. It was explored by members of t ...

, where it came to rest next to the glacier and remained there for eighteen years. On February 12 or 13th 2010, it collided with the giant floating Mertz Glacier tongue, and shaved off from it a new iceberg measuring long and wide. These then began drifting together about off the eastern coast of Antarctica. By December 2011, Iceberg B-9B had made its way into

Commonwealth Bay Commonwealth Bay is an open bay about 48 km (30 mi) wide at the entrance between Point Alden and Cape Gray in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition under Douglas Mawson, who established the mai ...

and had broken up into three major pieces, parts of which froze to the seabed. The huge iceberg prevented three tourist ships, from reaching Antarctica; they had been intended to mark the centenary of the polar voyage of Australian explorer

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...

who had landed at

Cape Denison Cape Denison is a rocky point at the head of Commonwealth Bay in George V Land, Antarctica. It was discovered in 1912 by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14) under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Sir Hugh Denison of Sydney, a pa ...

on January 8, 1912, and constructed a complex of huts, which remain standing. These ships attempted to reach the cape, but had to turn back, in light of unusually harsh conditions caused by B-9B's position in the bay. A spokeswoman from the Australian government's Antarctic division observed, "There reunusual ice conditions ... affecting all the tourist ships that are going down there because the tourist ships don't have ice-breaking capabilities, and they also don't have choppers, so their ability to get anywhere near the Mawson's huts area is basically stopped." In 2011, Amy Coopes from the

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

expected that Iceberg B-9B could remain in Commonwealth Bay for the next decade. In 2018, B-9B still remains in the Commonwealth Bay, surrounded by other tabular icebergs.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=https://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/2947/ , title=Master Plan. New blueprint proposes complete redesign of McMurdo Station , last=Rejcek , first=Peter , work=The Antarctic Sun , date=6 December 2013 , access-date=3 January 2020 {{cite web, last=Coopes , first=Amy , title=Huge iceberg foils Mawson centenary plans , work=Cosmos , date=22 December 2011 , url=http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/huge-iceberg-foils-mawson-centenary-plans/ , access-date=23 February 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228141319/http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/huge-iceberg-foils-mawson-centenary-plans/ , archive-date=February 28, 2014 {{cite web, title=B9B iceberg the size of Luxembourg strikes Antarctica , work=Daily News , date=26 February 2010 , url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/b9b-iceberg-size-luxembourg-strikes-antarctica-shaves-new-iceberg-mertz-glacier-article-1.197639 , access-date=23 February 2014 {{cite web , url=https://msi.nga.mil/queryResults?publications/broadcast-warn?subregion=29&status=all&msgYear=2002&output=html , title=Broadcast Warning Messages Query Results , work=Notice to Mariners , publisher=

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national ...

, date=2002 , access-date=3 January 2020 {{cite web , url=https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/22187/1/Jan2009d.pdf , pages=113–114 , title=Evolution of Antarctic Tabular Icebergs , last=Jansen , first=Daniela , date=April 2008 , access-date=3 January 2020 {{cite journal, last1=Keys , first1=Harry , last2=Jacobs , first2=S.S. , last3=Barnett , first3=Don , title=The calving and drift of iceberg B-9 in the Ross Sea, Antarctica , journal=Antarctic Science , volume=2 , issue=3 , pages=243–257 , date=11 June 1990 , url=http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=222910 , access-date=23 February 2014 , doi=10.1017/s0954102090000335, bibcode=1990AntSc...2..243K , s2cid=128996853 {{cite web , url=https://eprints.utas.edu.au/30186/7/2018_19_Season.pdf , page=14 , title=Sea ice reports for the Antarctic shipping season 2018–2019 , last=Lieser , first=Jan , publisher=Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre , publication-place=Hobart, Tasmania , date=April 2019 , access-date=3 January 2020

External links

National Geographic

IFL Science
B-9 Geography of Antarctica

See also

References

External links