A mammoth iceberg has taken residence off Ferryland, a small town on Newfoundland’s east coast, and its presence has become quite the tourist attraction, brining hundreds of people to the town.
An hour away from St. John’s, Ferryland has prime seats for viewing “Iceberg Alley,” something which while good for tourism, doesn’t tend to please fishermen. Iceberg Alley extends along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, and during the spring through until September, icebergs can be seen often coming from the Arctic. In fact, more than 600 have already floated into the North Atlantic this year.
Ferryland Mayor Adrian Kavanagh reported that the iceberg looked grounded and may stay on the town’s horizon for a time. “It’s a huge iceberg and it’s in so close that people can get a good photograph of it,” he said during a phone interview earlier this week. “It’s the biggest one I ever seen around here.”
Indeed, the Canadian Ice Service classified the iceberg as "large," reaching 151-240 feet and stretching between 401 and 670 feet long. Its size looks particularly ginormous in one picture of a helicopter parked on one end.
Mayor Kavanagh says that the wind has gotten stronger recently, which means that more icebergs could arrive soon. “You can see off in the distance on a clear day . . . you can see five or six big bergs,” he said.
Scientists think that the high numbers of icebergs this year are due to strong counter-clockwise winds that are drawing the icebergs south. Climate change is also likely affecting traffic in Iceberg Alley because of Greenland rapidly melting ice sheet.
Sources: CNN, Independent UK
