Rare black iceberg spotted off Labrador coast could be 100k years old
80 comments
·June 5, 2025tickerticker
The exposed portion of the berg is roughly spherical. The submerged portion must be enormous and approximately symmetrical to hold that sphere in such an upright position.
tantalor
Check around it for Super Samples!
jvanderbot
I wish I didn't think this immediately as well.
creaturemachine
Wait until the Democracy Officer hears of this lack of faith!
trod1234
Why would an iceberg be a "he is all black?"
bee_rider
Do black Labrador icebergs also have webbed feet, to swim better?
bregma
No, but golden Labrador icebergs are the friendliest of all the icebergs and can make a great addition to any family.
burnt-resistor
The vet bills and cleaning up after them is really ridiculous.
scoot
Is this just of passing interest, or something that "ists" (scientists, geologists, climatologists etc.) would gain potentially valuable data by taking samples from it?
null
morkalork
Will the icebergs broken off get older and older?
cess11
As long as we keep pushing CO2 into the atmosphere and don't run out of ice, yeah, most likely.
IncreasePosts
Wouldn't this melt "quickly" due to solar radiation based on how dark it is? That is to say, I wouldn't it most likely be closer to 100 years old than 100,000 years old?
burnt-resistor
That's for new soot depositing on ordinary, existing glaciers with previously high albedo. That causes a spiraling feedback effect of more forest fires and accelerating glacier melt,
It's probable that these dark glaciers are mostly sludge with only a bit of ice. We won't know until some field researchers go out there and gather data and samples.
malfist
I'm sure you know more about iceburg ages than the professor of oceanography that dated it.
dotancohen
To be fair, the guy who just dated it likey knows the least about it. It's the guy who broke up with it that knows the most.
IncreasePosts
I was literally asking about the range that the oceanographer provided. I didn't assert anything
marcusverus
This post--which actually engages with the content of the article--is being downvoted, while "Do black Labrador icebergs also have webbed feet, to swim better?" is being upvoted.
Where do we run once the redditification of HN is complete?
dylan604
After reading, I'm less interested in a black iceberg as much as now wondering what a fish harvester is as it's not a term I've seen before. Have we changed the term to reflect the vast quantities of fish that fisherman is inadequate?
throwup238
It’s a local quirk of the Canadian fish industry more than anything. DFO uses the phrase in their fishery notices: https://www.nfl.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/en/node/2377
The history page of the local union, they use the phrase “fish harvesters” rather interchangeably with “fishermen”: https://ffaw.ca/about-us/history/
serial_dev
It could be to make fishermen gender neutral, but I think it is to hide the fact that you are essentially killing the fish by the thousands, letting them suffocate. Fish harvesting sounds innocent and PG 13.
ahazred8ta
There's a union or collective bargaining guild that has trademarked the term Professional Fish Harvester in Canada. #PFHCB
tanseydavid
I am guessing that it is a translation artifact.
maxerickson
Seems to be in use in primarily English contexts.
https://www.alaskasafetyalliance.org/explore-careers/maritim...
creaturemachine
Newfoundland is predominantly English-speaking, so it's unlikely this reporter used anything else when preparing this story.
soperj
>Newfoundland is predominantly English-speaking
That's quite generous of you to say.
HPsquared
It makes sense in the context of fish farming. Not sure if that's what this is, though. Harvesting doesn't sound appropriate for catching wild fish.
aerostable_slug
FWIW, it's a reasonably common euphemism in hunting. Example:
"Deer and elk harvested from certain hunt zones must be tested." https://wildlife.ca.gov/hunting/deer
kkylin
Might one say fish harvesters capture "exponentially more fish"? (Sorry, couldn't resist...)
dan-robertson
I think it might be a gender-neutral version of fisherman. Not something like a factory ship.
null
IncreasePosts
Fisherman: catches fish
Fish harvester: might catch fish, but might also be the one that cleans/processes them and isn't actually involved in pulling the fish out of the water
uzbit
[dead]
catlover76
[dead]
codeddesign
[flagged]
"Fisher Hallur Antoniussen took a photo of it to show crewmates, but it quickly took off after being posted on social media."
I don't blame it, I would have done the same.