Hazards in the water

Icebergs and ice limits

Also written: growler, bergy bit, ice limit

Icebergs, smaller pieces of glacier ice and the published limit of known ice.

In the North Atlantic, the International Ice Patrol — set up after the Titanic sank in 1912 — tracks icebergs drifting south past the Grand Banks and publishes the limit of all known ice each day during the season. Those bulletins arrive in this archive as NAVAREA IV warnings, which is why iceberg counts rise every spring.

Smaller pieces are the harder hazard: a bergy bit stands about one to five metres above the sea, and a growler less than one metre, low enough to be hidden in waves and give a poor radar echo.

What the archive shows

11,479 messages in this archive use “Icebergs and ice limits”, the earliest issued 1988-08-21 and the latest 2026-09-23. 1 of them is in force in the latest lists we collected. A hazard reported again and again counts once per message.

The largest yearly count is 2022, with 1,161 messages. Collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17, so 2024, 2025 and 2026 are not comparable with fully collected years.

Icebergs accounts for 11,461 of 11,479 recorded messages (100%), the largest warning type group in this selection.

Located messages that use it fall in 22 sea areas; the most frequent are Labrador Sea (3,637), South Atlantic Ocean (3,060) and Southern Ocean (3,006).

Its use is spread fairly evenly through the year: the busiest month, March, has 1,027 messages and the quietest, November, 895.

By warning series: HYDROLANT 5,579, NAVAREA IV 4,774, HYDROPAC 855 and HYDROARC 265, and 2 more.

Messages using it, by year of issue

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By month of issue, all years

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Where it appears · 22 sea areas

In force now · 1

HYDROLANT 1279/26 · Icebergs · Southern Ocean2026-06-30 · in force
SOUTH ATLANTIC. SOUTH PACIFIC. ANTARCTICA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED IN: A. A81, 62-24.00S 054-12.00W. B. A84, 72-21.00S 108-36.00W. C. A85,…
Icebergs reported in: a. A81, 62-24.00S 054-12.00W →

How it reads in recent messages

HYDROARC 251/26 · Icebergs · Laptev Sea2026-09-23
LAPTEV SEA. RUSSIA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED AT 230900Z SEP IN: A. 77-06.70N 112-00.30E. B. 77-21.10N 109-24.50E. C.…
Icebergs reported at 230900Z sep in: a. 77-06.70N 112-00.30E →
HYDROLANT 1881/26 · Icebergs · Southern Ocean2026-09-23
SCOTIA SEA. SOUTH ATLANTIC. SOUTH PACIFIC. ANTARCTICA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED IN: A. A84, 70-49.20S 099-05.40W. B. A85, 61-25.80S 053-19.80W. C. D33A,…
Icebergs reported in: a. A84, 70-49.20S 099-05.40W →
NAVAREA IV 921/26 · Icebergs · Labrador Sea2026-09-22
1. NORTH AMERICAN ICE SERVICE (NAIS) ICEBERG BULLETIN 230001Z SEP. 2. ICEBERG LIMIT ALONG TRACKLINE JOINING 49-30N 055-10W, 51-30N…
North american ice service (nais) iceberg bulletin 230001Z sep →
HYDROARC 249/26 · Icebergs · Laptev Sea2026-09-22
LAPTEV SEA. RUSSIA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED AT 220900 SEP IN: A. 77-30.60N 111-54.90E. B. 77-07.10N 120-35.50E. C.…
Icebergs reported at 220900 sep in: a. 77-30.60N 111-54.90E →
HYDROLANT 1879/26 · Icebergs · South Atlantic Ocean2026-09-22
SCOTIA SEA. SOUTH ATLANTIC. ANTARCTICA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED AT: A. A76C, 54-29.00S 026-24.00W. B. A81, 57-16.00S 044-57.00W. C. A85,…
Icebergs reported at: a. A76C, 54-29.00S 026-24.00W →
HYDROLANT 1849/26 · Icebergs · South Atlantic Ocean2026-09-17
SCOTIA SEA. SOUTH ATLANTIC. ANTARCTICA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED IN: A. A81, 57-46.00S 045-52.00W. B. D33B, 59-30.00S 046-57.00W. C. A76C,…
Icebergs reported in: a. A81, 57-46.00S 045-52.00W →
HYDROLANT 1845/26 · Icebergs · Southern Ocean2026-09-17
SCOTIA SEA. SOUTH ATLANTIC. SOUTH PACIFIC. ANTARCTICA. 1. ICEBERGS REPORTED IN: A. A84, 71-11.40S 101-39.00W. B. A85, 61-43.20S 053-01.20W. C. D33A,…
Icebergs reported in: a. A84, 71-11.40S 101-39.00W →
NAVAREA IV 896/26 · Icebergs · Labrador Sea2026-09-16
1. NORTH AMERICAN ICE SERVICE (NAIS) ICEBERG BULLETIN 170001Z SEP. 2. ICEBERG LIMIT ALONG TRACKLINE JOINING 49-30N 055-10W, 54-15N…
North american ice service (nais) iceberg bulletin 170001Z sep →

Earliest in the archive

NOAAORR-6606 · Spills · Beaufort Sea1988-08-21
…1988, the Crowley barge tanker 570, en route to Kaktovik in northeast Alaska, struck an iceberg and lost approximately 68,000 gallons of Arctic heating fuel. The release occurred while…
Crowley barge tanker 570; flaxman island, beaufort sea, alaska →

Often in the same message

Related terms

NAVAREA: One of the 21 ocean areas of the World-Wide Navigational Warning Service, each with a coordinator that broadcasts long-range warnings.
Adrift: Loose and moving with wind and current — a vessel, container, buoy, log or anything else no longer secured.
HYDROARC: The U.S. long-range warning series for the Arctic Ocean.

Warning types that use it

Icebergs — Iceberg limits and reported bergs — mostly the North American Ice Service (International Ice Patrol) bulletins in the North Atlantic.

Counts cover the messages in this archive that use the term, recounted 2026-09-24; see coverage for what is collected and since when. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA and coastal broadcasts.