When an iceberg flips, it creates waves that can endanger ships nearby, but the move can also trigger further melting. In the ocean, many factors, including wind and waves, can contribute to an iceberg flipping, so researchers studied small, lab-scale versions to see how melting–alone–affects an iceberg’s likelihood of flipping.
The results showed that melting alone was enough to destabilize icebergs and make them flip, as seen in the timelapse above. These mini-icebergs melted faster underwater, changing the berg’s overall shape and eventually triggering a flip. Corners developed at the waterline where the different melt rates above- and below-the-water met. Whenever a flip occurred, one of these corners would always settle at the new water line, causing the lab iceberg to change from a circular cylinder to a polygon as melting continued. (Image credit: M. Whiston; research and video credit: B. Johnson et al.; via APS)
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