Titanic 2013: Jakobshavn Glacier

Titanic 2013: Jakobshavn Glacier by ric gustafson


It did not seem like an important moment in history. A block of ice possibly came off the Jakodshavn Glacier  and crashed down into a fjord with a mighty roar. This famous glacier has been the source of most of the world's largest icebergs. This glacier was the fastest moving in the world at the rate of sixty feet a day. After densely compacted snow wrenches away from the glacier and splits, it eventually settles into balance.
The Arctic winter of 1911 and 1912 was very mild. Icebergs that broke away from the glacier were larger than usual. In April 1912, there was more ice than usual floating in the Atlantic. The icebergs were farther south than usual also. Over a thousand icebergs had drifted to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. As the Labrador Current sent icebergs south, a sheet of pack ice came with them.
In mild weather, icebergs split apart creating large lumps of ice called growlers. In April of 1912, large icebergs were moving at a rate of twenty five miles a day toward the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic.


research help: ' Voyagers of the Titanic' by Richard Davenport- Hines


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric