 Who Colored the Berg? White light is made up of all the colors of the rainbow (red, blue, violet, etc.) and each color has a different wavelength. Icebergs are white because the ice is full of tiny air bubbles. The bubble surfaces scatter all color wavelengths by the same amount, giving the iceberg an overall white appearance. (Water and ice in clouds scatter color wavelengths the same way, and they also appear white.) The blueish streaks of clear, bubble free ice often seen in icebergs results from the refreezing of meltwater which fills crevasses formed in the glacier as it creeps over land. Ice that is bubble free has a blue tint which is due to the same light phenomenon that tints the sky - the wavelength of blue light causes it to be scattered or spread around much more than the other colors, and this scattered blue light is what makes the sky (and bubble free ice) blue.
Click pictures for more information and credits. Library: Arctic, Icebergs, Glaciers Environment/Atmosphere Links: Arctic, Icebergs, Glaciers Arctic Maps & Weather Reports |
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DICTIONARY: Just "double-click" any unlinked word on this page for the definition from Merriam-Webster's Student Electronic Dictionary at Word Central. |
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ARCTIC LIBRARY & GLOSSARY: Check this section for an index of the rest of the things you really need to know about the Arctic. |
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ARCTIC MAPS & WEATHER REPORTS: Maps of the Northwest Passage, explorers' routes, iceberg sources, Nunavut, the Arctic by treeline, temperature... |
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ARCTIC LINKS: Even more information! Links to sites related to the Arctic and "Iceberg: the Story of the Throps and the Squallhoots". |
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GUIDE TO ARCTIC SUNRISE & SUNSET: How much sunlight or darkness is there in the Arctic on each day of the year? |
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