The stripes may appear to be sweet, but they are actually salty.
When enormous pieces of ice break off a glacier or an ice shelf and drift freely in open sea, they produce icebergs.
This ice is made up of pure fresh water that has accumulated over millennia from snow falling on the Antarctic continent.
The floating ice fragments then interact with the saline ocean underneath them.
Striped icebergs form when powerful marine currents drag saltwater down beneath ice shelves.
The water cools and freezes near the ice shelf’s base.
Because this new ice is made of saltwater that contains biological stuff and minerals, it has a diversity of colours and textures.
The diverse coloured layers may form stunning patterns as the wind and waves smash the bergs into smaller pieces.
Striped icebergs in a range of hues, including brown, black, yellow, and blue, have been observed in Antarctica’s frigid seas, as evidenced by these photographs.
These are just stunning.
