Ice Fjord is Greenland's major iceberg source
By Jack Williams, USATODAY.com
The Jacobshaven Glacier, the fastest-moving glacier in
the Northern Hemisphere, pushes into the "Ice Fjord," where icebergs
break off the glacier and begin drifting toward Disko Bay. They then move into
Baffin Bay and south into the shipping lanes of the Atlantic Ocean.
About 3 to 4 cubic miles of ice breaks off as icebergs
At the mouth of the Ice Fjord, the larger bergs ground
on a reef known as the "iceberg bank." They stay there until the high
"spring" tides twice each month lift them over the bank. Larger ones
stay until enough ice melts for them to clear the bank. As they drift out of
the fjord, the icebergs pass the town of Jacobshaven, which also is known by
its Greenland name, Ilulissat.