Arctic Travel
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Disko Bay, Ilulissat Greenland, Icebergs in the Mist

The star attraction of Ilulissat and Disko Bay is Ilulissat Kangerlua, the Jakobshavn Icefjord the Northern hemisphere's most prolific glacier.

It flows along discharging icebergs into Disko bay at the rate of about 35 cubic kilometers of ice per year or about 20 million tons of ice per DAY!

There is an underwater barrier about 40km from the edge of the 5 km wide glacier that is about 260m deep which traps the larger icebergs building them up in Disko Bay. It is a combination of the prodigious amount of ice being produced by the glacier and the fact that lots of it hangs around for a year or two before being freed beyond the underwater barrier that Makes the icebergs in Disko bay so impressive.

Upon release the bergs are taken north up the coast of Greenland by currents before heading south down the Canadian coastline along the east side of Baffin Island and Newfoundland.

It is probable that the ice berg that sank the Titanic came from the Jakobshavn Icefjord.



Pictures copyright Paul Ward. Pentax digital equipment.

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