The Ice

All of the photos on this page were taken in the Bransfield Strait in November 1995 while onboard the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer. November is early spring in Antarctica. We had expected the water to be much clearer. We spent most of the time doing research aboard the ship crashing through the loose brash ice or trying to avoid the large bergs. The bridge has a sophisticated set of radar equipment that they use to detect bergs in their path even in the dark. Scientists track the largests bergs that break off of the ice shelf. The largest berg being tracked as of this date is over 60 miles long.

Ice Everywhere:

Pieces of all shape and size.	A mixture of slush and ice.
A small bergey bit flipped by the waves	Ice as far as the eye can see.

Brash Ice: blown by the wind

Brash ice is a mixture of sea ice and the small floating reminants of bergs that have blown out and been broken up in the ocean. The brash ice accumulates along the shores of the Antarctic coast and the islands along the penninsula. The ice is blown by the wind and the locations of these floating aggregates of ice change daily

Brash Ice from the Helo deck.	Cutting through the ice: a view of the ship's wake.

The Bergs

	Cathedral Bergs
	Caves eroded by the waves