Sea ice around Antarctica varies from about 8 million square miles in September or October to about 1 million square miles in January or February. This image from the Nimbus 7 Scanning Multichannel Multiwave Radiometer, which operated from 1978 to 1987, shows the sea ice minimum in February. 2x larger 4x larger 8x larger 16x larger 6. The iceberg calved from Antarctica, having originated as fresh-water ice resulting from precipitation on the continent. Surrounding the iceberg is sea ice, which is frozen sea water.
Icebergs can be hundreds of feet thick.
Sea ice rarely exceeds 10 feet in thickness. 2x larger 4x larger 8x larger 16x larger 7. Glacier and Royal Society Range. Glaciers pass from the polar plateau through mountain passes like this one, some reaching speeds of 800 meters per year. By contrast, the ice sheet at South Pole Station, in the continental interior, is moving about 10 meters per year.