Iceberg detection, tracking, and management

An iceberg is a very large object that can be detected in the open sea both visually and by radar. In principle an iceberg can also be detected by sonar. In the open sea, an iceberg produces squealing, popping, and creaking sounds caused by mechanical stresses and cracking, and these sounds can be detected underwater up to 2 km (more than a mile) away. In summer, bergs can also produce a high-pitched hissing sound called “bergy seltzer,” which is due to the release of high-pressure air bubbles from the ice as it melts in the warmer water.

The discovery of an iceberg depends on the alertness of a ship’s watchkeepers, and a decaying iceberg poses additional hazards because of its trail of growlers and bergy bits. Although small in size, they have masses (up to 120 tons for growlers; up to 5,400 tons for bergy bits) that are capable of damaging or sinking ships. As they drop into the sea, icebergs often roll over and lose their snow layers. In a heavy sea, the bergs’ smooth wetted ice surfaces produce a low radar cross section. This makes them difficult to discriminate by eye against foam and whitecaps. Because a ship may steer to avoid a large parent berg, it may be in greater danger from undetected growlers or bergy bits drifting nearby.

The problem of protecting shipping from icebergs is most critical in two regions, the high-latitude Southern Ocean and the northwestern section of the North Atlantic. The Southern Ocean threat is increasing because large container ships—those unable or unwilling to use the Panama Canal—can reach high southern latitudes on transit from Australia or New Zealand to Cape Horn. No special measures are currently in place to protect such vessels. In the North Atlantic, the International Ice Patrol was established in 1914 following the loss of the RMS Titanic to an iceberg in April 1912. Its task is to track icebergs as they enter shipping lanes via the Labrador Current and to keep a continuous computer plot of the known or estimated whereabouts of every berg. Reports are transmitted twice a day to ships. In the past, iceberg positions were sited by ships or aircraft; however, it is becoming more common that icebergs are sited by the interpretation of satellite imagery.

The most useful type of sensor is synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which combines high resolution with day-and-night weather-independent capability. Tools with a pixel size of about 20 metres (65 feet) are capable of resolving most bergs. The new generation of SAR in the early 21st century, such as the Canadian RADARSAT and the European ENVISAT, also surveys wide swaths (up to 400 km [250 miles] wide) in every orbit and thus is capable of surveying the entire danger zone once per day.

During the 1950s and 1960s, attempts were made by the U.S. Coast Guard to find ways of fragmenting icebergs that posed a threat to shipping. All were unsuccessful. Explosive techniques were particularly so, since ice and snow are so effective at absorbing mechanical shock. Often the yield of fragmented ice was no greater than the mass of explosive used. Because of the need to defend offshore drilling and production platforms from icebergs, the viability of explosive techniques has been readdressed more recently. It was found that very cold ice, such as the type found in the lower part of an iceberg, can be fragmented successfully by the use of slow-burning explosives such as Thermit. Thermit can be implanted by drilling; however, implantation is a dangerous process because of the possibility of capsize. Until these techniques are perfected, icebergs cannot be destroyed. Current protocols call for the location and tracking of threatening icebergs. Iceberg trajectories are then predicted by increasingly sophisticated computer models. If necessary, icebergs are captured and towed out of the way of their targets.