At the same time, antarctic icebergs are often several tens of kilometers long. Thus, for 

 instance, in 1854 in the Atlantic Ocean (44° south, 28° west), an ice mountain measuring 75 to 120 

 km long and 90 m high was observed. In 1894, south of New Zealand, the steamer Antarctic saw 

 an ice moimtain 130 km long. In November, 1904, near the Falkland Islands, the vessel Zenita 

 saw a mountain whose height was determined at 450 m. 



After the iceberg is separated from the end of the glacier, under the influence of the wind or 

 currents , it begins to move or to be carried out into the open ocean or ground itself on the offshore 

 shallows where it gradually changes its original form and is destroyed. 



The icebergs in the North Arctic Ocean have little practical significance. This is ejqjlained 

 by the fact that here icebergs are found far from the usual trade routes and also by the fact that, as 

 a whole, there are very few of them in the European sector of the arctic. Thus, according to the 

 computations of Smith, about 600 small icebergs were bom here annually. 



The glaciers of Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya are located in the "muff of deep fjords, sep- 

 arated from the open parts of the sea by a comparatively shallow shelf. Because of this, a large, 

 newly calfed iceberg must first decrease in size in order to pass out of the fjord. And the small 

 iceberg, when reaching the warm waters of Spitsbergen and Nordkapp currents, melts very rapidly. 



The icebergs of Eastern Greenland also have little practical importance. They also are com- 

 paratively small in size, and, on the whole, there are few of them. Those which succeed in leaving 

 the fjord travel near the shore along with the East Greenland current to the southwest around Cape 

 Farewell, and here they join the West Greenland icebergs. Figure 44 shows, according to Smith, 

 the usual western and southern borders of distribution of Eastern Greenland icebergs around Cape 

 Farewell. 



Figure 44. The extreme western and southern 

 limits of distribution of East 

 Greenland icebergs. 



As has been pointed out, the icebergs of Baffin Strait are of the greatest practical importance. 

 Along with pack ice, they are carried out into the open ocean by the Labrador current, and here 

 their course crosses the most important trade routes between Europe and the ports of North 

 America. In spite of the fact that the icebergs of Baffin Strait, in their amount, comprise, accord- 

 ing to Smith, only 2 per cent of the amount of sea ice which had formed during the winter in the 

 same sea, it is the icebergs, not the surviving sea ice, which comprise the main threat to marine 

 navigation.* 



*In April, 1912, the steamer Titanic sank as a result of a collision with an iceberg at 41° 46' 

 north, 59° 14' west, at which time 1, 513 persons lost their lives. 



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