The Weather Factory - Ice and Icebergs arth's polar regions are landscapes of ice and snow. But despite the seemingly mundane whiteness of it, on the open ocean there is a floating landscape of pack ice and mountainous icebergs as diverse as any landscape on the planet.
Icebergs are the juggernauts of the Arctic.
Most of the bergs that prowl the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic originate from glaciers on the West coast of Greenland. Glacial ice forms out of compacted snow, so icebergs are made entirely of fresh water. As snow is squeezed under its own weight on the upper reaches of the glaciers, it begins to flow downhill to the sea. Tongues of ice flow out onto the surface of the water. Gradually, wind and waves weaken the tongue of the glacier until it gives way.