{"id":775400,"date":"2026-09-19T04:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T04:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/775400\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T04:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T04:00:11","slug":"mini-tsunami-forms-from-iceberg-explosion-in-wild-iceland-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/775400\/","title":{"rendered":"Mini Tsunami Forms from Iceberg Explosion in Wild Iceland Video"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Add Surfer as a preferred Google sourceUse your Google account to add this to your settings<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"button styles_preferredSourceButton__9txve button--primary\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=surfer.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Add us on Google<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">There are plenty of ways for an iceberg to make an entrance. This one, for instance, practically did a backflip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">A video from Iceland captures a massive piece of ice suddenly surging upward from beneath the surface, rolling onto its side and throwing an enormous section of blue-white ice into the air. As the berg completes its slow-motion somersault, water pours off its newly exposed face and a series of small tsunami-like waves radiates outward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">It looks bizarre, but there\u2019s some serious physics behind it. See the video <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DdM5GKkDp9V\/\">linked here<\/a> and below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">One possible mechanism is submarine calving, when ice breaks away from the submerged portion of a glacier and buoyancy sends it rocketing toward the surface. The National Park Service describes these \u201cbasal bergs\u201d as pieces of underwater glacier ice that \u201crise suddenly and unexpectedly,\u201d sometimes emerging \u201cexplosively, without warning at the water surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">The U.S. Geological Survey has documented the same phenomenon at Alaska\u2019s Columbia Glacier, describing an iceberg that \u201cbroke free from under the water and shot to the surface,\u201d spinning as it emerged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">Once free, an iceberg may also roll because its shape is unstable. Researchers writing in the Annals of Glaciology explain that newly calved bergs often capsize as they seek a more stable orientation. That violent redistribution of mass releases gravitational energy and can produce \u201clarge-amplitude surface-gravity waves known as tsunamis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">That\u2019s exactly what makes the Iceland clip so mesmerizing \u2014 and slightly terrifying. The iceberg doesn\u2019t simply float to the surface. It heaves upward, rotates, crashes back down and pushes a visible pulse of water across the lagoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">Surfers have intentionally chased glacier-generated waves before. Garrett McNamara and Kealii Mamala famously surfed waves up to 25 feet generated by calving ice in Alaska, while more recently surfers including Blair Conklin have continued pursuing the bizarre phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">But this particular setup looks considerably less inviting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" data-wp-block-name=\"core\/paragraph\" data-wp-block=\"{&quot;dropCap&quot;:false}\">There\u2019s something about surfing next to a giant iceberg performing a surprise somersault that makes waiting for a normal swell seem perfectly reasonable.<\/p>\n<p>About the author<img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"styles_avatarImage__7mnVX\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/img_5769-2.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Managing Editor of Surfer, Dashel Pierson is a lifelong waverider and storyteller hailing from the storied, yet fickle, surf town of Laguna Beach.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add Surfer as a preferred Google sourceUse your Google account to add this to your settings Add us&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[255682,255684,255680,255688,255683,1397,255681,255685,255686,791,10592,50,90,255687,19968,156200,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-775400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-annals-of-glaciology","tag-basal-bergs","tag-blair-conklin","tag-cold-water-surfing","tag-columbia-glacier","tag-environment","tag-garrett-mcnamara","tag-glacier-generated-waves","tag-iceberg-flipping-in-iceland","tag-iceland","tag-national-park-service","tag-news","tag-science","tag-submarine-calving","tag-tsunami","tag-u-s-geological-survey","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}