# Is this picture real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791 "2002-06-19T02:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/1 "2002-06-19T02:55:01Z")
Here is a picture of an iceburg at the surface, both under and above. It just doesn’t look real to me. I received it through e-mail. [http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~samuelj/tipoficeberg.html](http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/~samuelj/tipoficeberg.html) The lighting looks different underwater than above. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/2 "2002-06-19T02:57:50Z")
Fake. Where would the lighting beneath the iceberg be coming from? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/3 "2002-06-19T03:01:32Z")
[No, it’s a composite image](http://www.snopes2.com/photos/iceberg.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/4 "2002-06-19T03:09:19Z")
**Scr4** , even with unpronounceable nick, is my new favorite poster… 😃 well, who’da thunk “snopes”? not me, that’s fer sure ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/5 "2002-06-19T03:23:33Z")
I knew better than to trust an e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/6 "2002-06-19T03:48:16Z")
But there are Nigerians out there who need you to help them get their money! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/7 "2002-06-19T04:27:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*But there are Nigerians out there who need you to help them get their money! \*\* \ Not just Nigerians anymore … See [http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,53115,00.html](http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,53115,00.html) \ ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/8 "2002-06-19T05:32:35Z")
It’s an impressive photograph, if real, and I’d be curious about the technique, though I think a composite image is more likely. The size of the iceberg doesn’t strike me as particularly impressive, though. 300 million tons? So? That’s 1km x 500m x 600m of water. Compared to size of the oceans, it’s a drop. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/9 "2002-06-19T05:41:49Z")
Okay, so it’s a composite (that’ll teach me to speed-read the thread). I remember one of Isaac Asimov’s essays in which he describes overhearing a conversation on some Arctic cruise or whatnot in which a woman says to her companion “…and whats so unusual is that only one-ninth of that iceberg is visible. The rest is underwater.” Asimov reports that he interrupted,telling her that the _really_ extraordinary fact isn’t that eight-ninths is underwater, but that one-ninth is above! Since virtually all matter increases in density as it gets colder, the ice should sink. But that unusal fact that water becomes _less_ dense is why an iceberg floats and plays a major factor in the evolution of life on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/10 "2002-06-19T12:18:13Z")
Isn’t that scary though? Like an x-ray of a big icy tooth! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Zamboni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Zamboni)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/11 "2002-06-22T01:12:26Z")
It was pretty freaky. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/12 "2002-06-22T05:32:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > **I remember one of Isaac Asimov’s essays** I noticed someone else making mention of Isaac Asimov on SDMB. Glad to see the we are in such good company. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/13 "2002-06-22T05:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Okay, so it’s a composite (that’ll teach me to speed-read the thread). I remember one of Isaac Asimov’s essays in which he describes overhearing a conversation on some Arctic cruise or whatnot in which a woman says to her companion “…and whats so unusual is that only one-ninth of that iceberg is visible. The rest is underwater.” Asimov reports that he interrupted,telling her that the _really_ extraordinary fact isn’t that eight-ninths is underwater, but that one-ninth is above! Since virtually all matter increases in density as it gets colder, the ice should sink. But that unusal fact that water becomes _less_ dense is why an iceberg floats and plays a major factor in the evolution of life on Earth. \*\* Boy, Asimov sure knew how to kill a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-picture-real/114791/14 "2002-06-22T14:03:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Zamboni \* > I knew better than to trust an e-mail. Never trust _anything_ you read online. 😉