Antarctica's Living Ice

Sebastian Copeland's photos are otherworldly

January 4, 2021

Photo by Sebastian Copeland

Some of the ice in Antarctica has been around for as long as 3 million years. Though its life span is measured on a geologic scale, this ice is, in its own way, alive—always shifting, moving, and taking new shapes. Where the ice meets the ocean, powerful waves sculpt it into otherworldly forms. Here, a storm near the Melchior Islands erodes an iceberg and exposes smooth features that were previously submerged.

See a slideshow from Sebastian Copeland's book, Antarctica: The Waking Giant, at sc.org/copeland.