PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Coast Guard says more than 400 icebergs have drifted into the North Atlantic shipping lanes over the past week in an unusually large swarm for this early in the season.
It is forcing vessels to slow to a crawl or take detours of hundreds of miles.
Experts are attributing it to uncommonly strong winds and perhaps global warming, which is believed to be accelerating the process by which chunks of the Greenland ice sheet break off and float away.
As of Monday, there were about 450 icebergs near the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Those kinds of numbers are usually not seen until late May or early June.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)