Iceberg III Project

DRI's Dr. Alison Murray and her team are in the Southern Ocean as part of the Iceberg III project led by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Large icebergs – including some longer than 18.5 kilometers (~11 miles) – have been calving from the Antarctic ice shelves more frequently in the last decade. The increasing frequency of smaller icebergs could enhance their collective effects. As ice continues to migrate from the ice shelves to the open sea, this project hypothesizes that increased primary production, and carbon sequestration, from nutrients associated with free-drifting icebergs could affect the global carbon cycle.