Q 01/05

An iceberg is a piece of what kind of ice, over 15 metres long, broken off a glacier or ice shelf?

A) Freshwater ice

B) Frozen seawater

C) Compacted sea ice

D) Brackish ice

Answer · why

A) Freshwater ice

Freshwater ice: a berg is a piece of a glacier or ice sheet that formed on land, so it holds no salt even though it floats in the sea; frozen seawater...

Q 02/05

Roughly what fraction of an iceberg's volume sits above the water?

A) About one hundredth

B) About one tenth

C) About one third

D) About two thirds

Answer · why

B) About one tenth

About one tenth: ice is only slightly less dense than seawater, so roughly nine-tenths of a berg floats out of sight, which gave English the phrase 't...

Q 03/05

The word 'iceberg' is a partial loan translation from which language?

A) Dutch

B) Norwegian

C) Icelandic

D) Greenlandic

Answer · why

A) Dutch

Dutch: ijsberg literally means 'ice mountain', and English translated the 'ice' half but left 'berg' alone, which is why it counts as only a partial l...

Q 04/05

What do mariners call chunks of glacier ice that rise less than a metre above the sea, smaller than bergy bits?

A) Ice floes

B) Growlers

C) Brash ice

D) Nilas

Answer · why

B) Growlers

Growlers, about the size of a grand piano, ride so low that lookouts lose them among the whitecaps, so a ship steering round a big berg can be in more...

Q 05/05

Operation Iceberg was the Allied codename for the 1945 invasion of which Pacific island?

A) Iwo Jima

B) Okinawa

C) Guadalcanal

D) Saipan

Answer · why

B) Okinawa

Okinawa: the landing on 1 April 1945 was the biggest amphibious assault of the Pacific war, and the island was meant to be the springboard for an inva...