August 10, 2006, Washington, DC—On August 4, 2006, the National Ice Center (NIC) discovered that iceberg A-54 (Figure 1) has calved a new iceberg that meets the criteria for naming and tracking by the NIC. The new iceberg has been named A-54B. A-54B is located at 64? 39’ 39” South, 056? 29’ 50” West, near the Trinity Peninsula in the Weddell Sea. Iceberg A-54B measures 13 nautical miles on its longest axis and 7 nautical miles on its widest axis. The larger remaining piece of iceberg A-54 has been renamed A-54A, which measures 21 nautical miles on its longest axis and 10 nautical miles on it widest axis. Aerographer’s Mate First Class Gene Swope located A-54B using DMSP/OLS imagery shown below.

Iceberg names are derived from the Antarctic quadrant in which they were originally sighted. The quadrants are divided counter-clockwise in the following manner:

A = 0-90W (Bellinghausen/Weddell Sea)
B = 90W-180 (Amundsen/Eastern Ross Sea)
C = 180-90E (Western Ross Sea/Wilkesland)
D = 90E-0 (Amery/Eastern Weddell Sea)

When first sighted, an iceberg’s point of origin is documented by the NIC. The letter of the quadrant, along with a sequential number, is assigned to the iceberg. For example, A-54 is sequentially the 54th iceberg tracked by the NIC in Antarctica between 0-90W (Quadrant A).

The National Ice Center is a tri-agency operational center represented by the United States Navy (Department of Defense), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Department of Commerce), and the United States Coast Guard (Department of Homeland Security). The National Ice Center mission is to provide the highest quality strategic and tactical ice services tailored to meet the operational requirements of U.S. national interests and to provide specialized meteorological and oceanographic services to United States government agencies.

For more information, please contact:
National Ice Center
Naval Ice Center
Liaison Branch
Voice: 301-394-3100
E-mail: liaison@natice.noaa.gov