South Pacific sailors moving south - beware of icebergs moving north

by Des Ryan on 23 Nov 2009 If you're venturing into high latitudes in the South Pacific any time soon there's a new reason to be cautious. The news that icebergs have been seen out in the ocean from Dunedin in New Zealand for the first time since 1931 is a cause for excitement for scientists and excited tourists, but it has more meaning for the cruising sailor.

One of the additional hazards of venturing into the Southern Ocean is the iceberg or more sinister growler that lurks just beneath the water. However, while sailing the coastlines of New Zealand can be chilly at times, sailors have not traditionally needed to look out for icebergs.

As soon as the latest iceberg was sighted from the coast, a maritime warning was issued, but what about the icebergs that have not attracted notice?

Maritime New Zealand spokesman Steve Corbett said the icebergs were not being actively monitored, as 'they pose no imminent danger to shipping.' This, of course, does not apply to cruising sailors who roam the ocean at will, and it's up to sailors to spread the word among each other.

This year's icebergs in the New Zealand region have drawn both tourists and scientists, who want to determine where they originated. Last year icebergs were also sighted in NZ waters for the first time in 56 years, but they could not be seen from the mainland.

Sightseers have started paying up to $330 each to fly over the icebergs — first spotted headed toward southern New Zealand several weeks ago.

Since early November, more icebergs than usual have been sighted around Australia's Macquarie Island. Only last week a monster iceberg was sighted estimated to be around 500metres long.

But according to reports scientists have been reluctant to blame global warming.

'We’ve been monitoring these things for such a short time, it’s impossible to see. To say this is unusual and related to global warming is just not possible,' Paul Augustinus, an Auckland University glacier expert, told the New Zealand Herald earlier this month.

'It’s a fairly frequent occurrence; it’s just unusual for such large bergs to get so far north,' he added.

Mike Williams, an oceanographer at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said a sample has been taken from one iceberg when a helicopter landed on it several days ago, and has been sent for analysis to Victoria University in Wellington.

'I believe it came from the (Antarctic's) Ronne ice shelf,' Williams said.

'Some people have proposed it came from the Ross Sea (on Antarctic's north coast) but I think that it is unlikely. The (ocean) current would have made that very difficult and they would have had to travel very fast,' he noted, adding that the sample should resolve the matter.