File:Icebergs in the Southern Ocean (MODIS 2017-03-02).jpg

English: In late February 2017, NASA’s Aqua satellite spotted over a dozen icebergs of various sizes afloat on the dark waters of the Southern Ocean. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard that satellite captured this true-color image on February 24.

Both cloud and ice are highly reflective and appear bright white. Clouds sit at the edge of this image and appear slightly bluer than the brighter spots of ice (icebergs). In contrast, the poorly reflective waters of the Southern Ocean appears inky black.

February is the end of summer in Antarctica and the time with the sea ice nears maximum melting. Because the waters are relatively free of winter’s broad sheets of frozen sea ice, February is also a time when free-floating icebergs are on the move, following the currents across open ocean waters.

Icebergs are chunks of ice that have broken off of ice shelves or glaciers. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to be classified as an iceberg, the height of the ice must be greater than 16 feet above sea level and the thickness must be 96-164 feet and the ice must cover an area of at least 5,382 square feet. Smaller pieces of floating ice are known as “bergy bits” and “growlers”. Bergy bits have an area of about 1,076-3,229 square feet while growlers are only about the size of a truck or a grand piano.