The iceberg and the clouds

 

I've been watching iceberg A38a just about every day, and if you haven't been following along, the berg hit the shallows south of South Georgia Island and -- rather than wreaking ecological havoc -- capitulated to the power of the benthos and broke.   Since then, it has broken more, and drifted well south of the island, so the imminent dangers to seals and penguins appears to have diverted.

Here's a review of the highlights.

Nearing closest approach on December 15.

Busted on December 18.

Bad breakup on December 23.

The fragmented flock on December 29.

Whilst I was appraising this view of the iceberg and following fragments, I noticed that the South Sandwich Islands to the east were generating some amazing cloud patterns on this same date.  So here's the bonus round.   (I did a really quick search and found this NASA article from 2004, showing similar cloud patterns, but the ones below are better.  South Sandwich Island Cloud Wakes )