Southern Ocean - Ross Sea - Iceberg B-15

Iceberg B-15 was the world's largest recorded iceberg, with an area of over 11,000 km² it was larger than the island of Jamaica.

It calved from the Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000, breaking up into several pieces in 2002 and 2003. The largest of these, B-15A, was the world's largest free-floating object—it was 122 km (76 miles) long, 27 km (17 miles) wide, and covered an area of 3,100 km² (1,200 mile², or approximately the size of Luxembourg).

In November 2003, after the separation from B-15 iceberg, B-15A drifted away from Ross Island on the open waters of the Ross Sea.

In December 2003 a small knife-shaped iceberg, B-15K (about 300 km²), detached itself from the main body of B-15A and started drifting northward.

In 2005 prevailing currents took B-15A slowly past the Drygalski ice tongue; the collision broke off the tip of Drygalski in mid-April. Then the iceberg sailed on along the coast leaving McMurdo Sound until it ran aground off Cape Adare in Victoria Land and broke into several smaller pieces on 27–28 October 2005.

The largest piece is still named B-15A (its surface is now approx. 1700 km²), while three additional pieces were named B-15P, B-15M and B-15N.

It has since moved farther up north and broken up into more pieces. These were spotted by air force fisheries patrol on November 3rd 2006.

On November 21st several large pieces were seen just 60 km off the coast of Timaru, New Zealand. The largest measuring about 1.8 km wide and 120 feet high.

On 10th April 2005, B-15A impacted the Drygalski ice tongue, a projection of the fast-moving David Glacier that flows through Antarctica's mountainous Victoria Land coastal region, breaking off an 8-km² (3-miles²) section of the ice tongue.

This collision with the Drygalski tongue forced a redrawing of Antarctic maps. B-15A prevented ocean currents and winds from assisting in the 2004–2005 summer break-up of the sea ice in McMurdo Sound and was an obstacle to the annual resupply ships to three research stations.

The floe was expected to cause a catastrophic decline in the population of Adelie Penguins, as it added considerable distances which parent penguins must travel back from the sea to their chicks.

Weddell seals and Skuas are also inhabitants of McMurdo Sound and their populations may have been affected as well.

In October 2006, it was reported that a storm in Alaska the previous year caused an ocean swell that broke B15A into many pieces. The waves travelled 8,300 miles (13,500 km) from Alaska to Antarctica over a six-day period. Scientists are studying this event as an example of how weather in one area can have effects in other parts of the world, and with concern over the effects on global warming.

Southern Ocean - Ross Sea - Iceberg B-9

Iceberg B-9 (1987) 154 km by 35 km calved away from Antarctica, from the sector east of Roosevelt Island, neighbouring the Bay of Whales and immediately east of the calving site of Iceberg B-15. It carried away all three Little Americas.

Southern Ocean - Ross Sea - Iceberg C-19

Iceberg C-19 calved from the Ross Ice Shelf on May 2002 on a fissure scientists have been watching since the 1980s. After that the Ross Ice Shelf returned to the size it was in 1911, when it was mapped by Robert F. Scott’s party. It was the second-largest iceberg to calve in the region in few years (after B-15). Its surface was larger than 5500 km²

During 2002 C-19 prevented sea ice from moving out of the southwestern Ross Sea region and this blockage resulted in an unusually high sea level ice during spring and summer, thus provoking a huge reduction in phytoplankton production which is at the base of the food chain.

In summer 2003 C-19 moved northward very rapidly, passed Cape Adana, and broke in two pieces: C-19A (surface approx. 4000 km²) and C-19B.

In September 2005, after a two year stay along the coast of Victoria Land (west of French station Dumont d'Urville) C-19A started drifting northward. In March 2006 its location is in the Pacific Ocean, 200 km west of Balleny Islands.