This Is What the Underside of an Iceberg Looks Like
Alex Cornell ©
In case you didn't know, the underside of icebergs are incredibly beautiful.
Not many people see this view of icebergs in person, but photographer Alex Cornell captured a few gorgeous images of one of these floating monsters that we can all enjoy.
The deep blue color is impossible to miss against the white backdrop of Antarctica.
“Everything I was seeing was pretty exciting,” he said in an interview with Smithsonian. “This particular iceberg at the time kind of blended in with all the crazy stuff we were seeing.”
Alex Cornell ©
According to Cornell, it was a scientist on board the ship who got excited upon spotting the crystal-clear formation.
The white-capped icebergs that are exposed to air appear snowy, while the bottoms of the ice chunks are a vibrant blue. This is due to the way light bounces off the iceberg—when long wavelengths of light (these are red) hit the ice, they are absorbed. In return, the light that makes its way through the ice or bounces off of it is blue.
Alex Cornell ©
According to a study published in Journal of Geophysical Research, when the iceberg actually flips, the rumble can be mistaken for an earthquake.
Flipped icebergs aren't the only thing Cornell captures through his lens. For more of his work, check out his photography website.
