Ferryland’s Giant Iceberg: The Story Behind the 2017 Photos

The houses are the giveaway. Without them, the Ferryland iceberg could almost pass for a snowy mountain on the horizon. Put a row of homes beneath it, and the scale suddenly becomes wonderfully absurd.

In April 2017, this enormous iceberg drew visitors to Ferryland, on Newfoundland’s east coast. Contemporary reporting put its visible height at about 150 feet, or 46 metres. It became one of that spring’s most memorable scenes along Canada’s Iceberg Alley. WIRED’s report from April 2017 records the spectacle and the attention it attracted.

The story behind the Ferryland iceberg photos

These photographs belong to that 2017 event. They show the berg from the shoreline and across the water, with buildings and people providing a familiar reference point. The different viewpoints are part of the fun: in one frame it dominates the village; in another, the wider coast reminds you how much open water surrounds it.

The reported height refers to ice above the waterline. It does not tell us the berg’s full depth, weight or underwater shape. That also makes a neat “bigger than the Titanic iceberg” headline a poor comparison: a single height estimate is not a measurement of either iceberg’s total size.

Where do Newfoundland’s icebergs come from?

An iceberg begins as a piece of a glacier or ice shelf that breaks away and floats. It is different from sea ice, which forms when seawater freezes. NOAA’s iceberg guide also explains the smaller fragments known as bergy bits and growlers.

Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism says most icebergs seen off the province originate in western Greenland, with others coming from the Canadian Arctic. Their arrival along this coast gives Iceberg Alley its name. Much of a floating berg lies underwater, so the visible sculpture is only part of the story. The tourism board’s iceberg viewing guide explains their origins and viewing options.

If you would like to follow that story back onto land, our Svalbard glacier comparison photographs explore how glacier landscapes change over time.

Planning an iceberg-watching trip

The 2017 photographs are inspiration, rather than a promise of the same view on your visit. Iceberg positions and visibility change. Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism highlights late May and early June as a useful viewing window, while noting that the season varies along the coast.

• Check recent sightings. Use IcebergFinder and ask locally before making a detour for a particular berg.
• Give the coastline time. Plan other stops you would enjoy even if fog, weather or drifting ice changes the view.
• Keep your distance. Icebergs can break apart or roll. Follow local viewing guidance and an experienced operator’s directions on the water.

For photographs, try including a building or a person at a sensible distance: the contrast makes the ice feel enormous without needing an exaggerated caption. For another approach to composition, see David Burdeny’s symmetrical Antarctic iceberg photograph. Two very different images, and two lovely reminders to look twice.