National Weather Digest WEATHER SATELLITE VIEWS ICEBERG

the size of the state of Rhode Island, broke away from Ant-arctica and was drifting in the Ross Sea. The iceberg broke from the Ross Ice Shelf, a region of freshwater ice formed from snow, at a point called the Bay of Whales. Icebergs often break away from the Antarctic ice shelves where they are affected by weather and tidal forces. This new iceberg (B 9) equaled two to three times the amount of ice that normally breaks free in a year. On 19 February 1988, the Defense Meteorological Satellite (DMSP) obtained a visual view of the iceberg (Fig. I). The iceberg was about 25 miles wide and 98 miles long, for an area of2,450 square miles and estimated at 750 feet thick. An interesting concept appeared in a recent issue ofInsight Magazine: "Equatorial lands in need offresh water may soon have access to a new source, Antarctic icebergs. Soviet sci