Antarctica’s Incredible Striped Icebergs Appear Like Candy

The stripes taste salty even though they appear to be candy.

Large pieces of ice that have broken off of a glacier or an ice shelf and are now floating freely in the open ocean are called icebergs. This ice is made up entirely of fresh water accumulated over thousands of years by snowfall on the Antarctic continent. The salty ocean below the floating bits of freshwater ice subsequently reacts with it.

Strong ocean currents that drive seawater beneath ice shelves give birth to striped icebergs. Water drops in temperature and freezes at the ice shelf’s base. The iceberg’s new ice has a diversity of colours and textures since it is made of seawater that contains biological stuff and minerals. The colourful layers can create incredible patterns as the wind and waves shatter the bergs into more fragments.

As evidenced by these pictures, striped icebergs have been spotted in the icy waters surrounding Antarctica in various colours, including brown, black, yellow, and blue. They are just stunning.