Greenland’s jagged coastline is lined with fjords, many of them cradling marine-terminating glaciers that routinely calve icebergs into the water. It’s common to see these bergs, small and large, drifting in the island’s fjords each summer once the sea ice breaks up. In summer 2026, one exceptionally large berg turned up in the Denmark Strait—more than a thousand kilometers south of where it apparently originated.
格陵兰岛锯齿状的海岸线两旁都是峡湾，其中许多峡湾都孕育着终止海洋的冰川，这些冰川经常将冰山崩解入水中。每年夏天海冰融化后，经常可以看到这些大大小小的冰山在岛上的峡湾中漂流。 2026 年夏天，一座异常巨大的冰山出现在丹麦海峡——距离它的发源地以南一千多公里。
These images, captured by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 9 , show the iceberg on June 12 as it drifted in the strait between Greenland and Iceland. It was just south of Kangikajiip Appalia, a cape on Greenland’s east coast visible in the scene’s upper left, amid a mixture of sea ice and berg fragments known as “mélange.”
这些图像由 Landsat 9 上的 OLI（操作陆地成像仪）拍摄，显示了 6 月 12 日冰山在格陵兰岛和冰岛之间的海峡漂流时的情况。它位于康卡吉普阿帕利亚 (Kangikajiip Appalia) 以南，这是格陵兰岛东海岸的一个海角，在场景的左上角可见，周围是海冰和被称为“混合物”的冰山碎片的混合物。
Alexis Denton, oceanographer and chief scientist with the International Ice Patrol, noted that several clues indicate it is an iceberg rather than thick, multi-year sea ice: its proximity to shore, its whiter color, and larger size compared to the surrounding sea ice. Measuring roughly 17 square kilometers (7 square miles) on June 12, the iceberg was about five times the area of New York City’s Central Park. That’s modest compared to the behemoth bergs that calve from Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves but large by Greenland standards.
海洋学家兼国际冰巡队首席科学家亚历克西斯·丹顿指出，一些线索表明它是一座冰山，而不是厚厚的多年海冰：它靠近海岸，颜色更白，与周围海冰相比尺寸更大。 6 月 12 日，这座冰山的面积约为 17 平方公里（7 平方英里），大约是纽约市中央公园面积的五倍。与南极冰川和冰架崩解的巨型冰山相比，这个数字并不大，但按照格陵兰岛的标准来说，这个数字已经很大了。
Keld Quistgaard, a senior ice advisor with the Danish Meteorological Institute’s Greenland Ice Service, noted that it originated in Jøkelbugten—a bay in northeastern Greenland. The berg’s precise origin within that bay, however, remains something of a mystery. It’s possible that the berg broke off from Zachariæ Isstrøm or its adjacent remnant ice shelf . The ice shelf, which together with Zachariæ Isstrøm once filled the bay, was abandoned after the glacier rapidly retreated in the early 2000s.
丹麦气象研究所格陵兰冰局的高级冰顾问凯尔德奎斯特加德指出，它起源于约克尔布滕——格陵兰岛东北部的一个海湾。然而，这座山在海湾内的确切起源仍然是个谜。这座冰山有可能是从 Zachariæ Isstrøm 或其邻近的残余冰架上脱落下来的。这个冰架曾与 Zachariæ Isstrøm 一起填满了整个海湾，但在 2000 年代初期冰川迅速消退后，该冰架被废弃。
Tracing its path back through satellite imagery is challenging. Through spring, the bay and surrounding coastal areas are choked with sea ice and berg fragments, making individual bergs hard to distinguish, especially if covered in bright snow. In late May, for instance, the berg was surrounded by numerous look-alikes . Only later in the season, as it drifted farther south and the ice around it thinned out, did it become distinct enough to easily spot.
通过卫星图像追踪其路径是一项挑战。整个春天，海湾和周围的沿海地区都被海冰和冰山碎片堵塞，使得单个冰山难以区分，尤其是在被明亮的雪覆盖的情况下。例如，五月下旬，这座冰山周围环绕着许多相似的东西。直到季节后期，随着它向南漂移，周围的冰层变薄，它才变得足够清晰，很容易被发现。
Its size and striking network of blue meltwater ponds offer some clues to its origin, according to Christopher Shuman, a retired University of Maryland glaciologist. Shuman thinks the berg broke from the remnant ice shelf rather than the glacier itself. Bergs calved from Zachariæ Isstrøm tend to be smaller , he said. Also, the berg’s surface—pocked with meltwater ponds, “like Swiss cheese”—closely resembles the remnant shelf ice. Past satellite images show pieces of that shelf ice drifting south and getting trapped among islands bordering the bay, where winds and tides have jostled them for years.
马里兰大学退休冰川学家克里斯托弗·舒曼表示，其规模和引人注目的蓝色融水池塘网络为其起源提供了一些线索。舒曼认为这座冰山是从残留的冰架上破裂出来的，而不是冰川本身。他说，从 Zachariæ Isstrøm 产下的山体往往较小。此外，冰山的表面布满了融水池，“就像瑞士奶酪”，与残留的陆架冰非常相似。过去的卫星图像显示，大陆架冰块向南漂流，被困在海湾沿岸的岛屿中，多年来，这些岛屿一直受到风和潮汐的冲击。
As of mid-August, the berg was about 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) from the bay, drifting south on the Greenland Coastal Current into the North Atlantic. Quistgaard expected the iceberg to gradually disintegrate throughout the month. Recent satellite imagery suggested it was doing just that.
截至 8 月中旬，这座冰山距离海湾约 1,500 公里（900 英里），随着格陵兰海岸洋流向南漂流进入北大西洋。奎斯特加德预计冰山将在整个月内逐渐解体。最近的卫星图像表明它正在这样做。
Breaking up in the Denmark Strait means that remnants of the berg are unlikely to drift into busier shipping lanes that go past the southern tip of Greenland. “Its journey is a reminder of the dynamic Earth,” Shuman said, “as well as the seasonal variability of the ice in this part of the North Atlantic.”
在丹麦海峡破裂意味着冰山的残余物不太可能漂入经过格陵兰岛南端的更繁忙的航道。舒曼说：“它的旅程提醒人们注意地球的动态，以及北大西洋这一地区冰的季节性变化。”
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey . Story by Kathryn Hansen.
NASA 地球观测站图像由 Lauren Dauphin 使用美国地质调查局的陆地卫星数据拍摄。凯瑟琳·汉森的故事。