Invisible Iceberg: The mirage that sank the Titanic

The stage was set for the Titanic's tragic end years before it ever launched, beginning with a series of warm years in the Arctic that increased the rate of melting glaciers in Greenland.

The sinking of the Titanic, a ship once called the "Ship of Dreams," has fascinated generations for more than a century and inspired movies, books and countless underwater missions to the murky depths of the Atlantic Ocean floor where the decaying ship has remained for 112 years since its sinking.

In his debut book "Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Shaped History," AccuWeather founder and Executive Chairman Dr. Joel N. Myers leads readers on a journey from the beginning of time through modern days, exploring how weather and climate impacted world events throughout history like the Titanic disaster. The book's title stems from a fascinating chapter on the sinking of the massive ship, bringing together little-known details and weather data to create a clearer picture of what really happened that cold April night.

"The Titanic, of course, is a story that engrosses and fascinates everybody," Dr. Myers explained to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Bernie Rayno. "It turns out the lookout couldn't see the iceberg until the last minute, couldn't see how big it was, because there was an inversion present."

In his book, Dr. Myers, considered the “father of modern commercial meteorology," elaborates on how the weather affected the ability of the lookout on the Titanic to see the massive iceberg. "The water was very cold; the ship had moved from warm water to cold water and because of that inversion, the light bent, so he only saw the top of the iceberg until it was very close. So people say, 'Hey, somebody was asleep at the switch' and so on, but it was the weather, in many different ways, that led to that problem."

The stage was set for the Titanic's tragic end years before it ever launched, Dr. Myers wrote. It began with a series of warm years in the Arctic that increased the rate of melting glaciers in Greenland. The massive iceberg that ultimately doomed the ship deemed unsinkable had traveled a long way to end up in the path of the ill-fated ocean liner.

In the Northern Hemisphere, most of the icebergs break off from west Greenland glaciers. From there, the surviving icebergs eventually drift southward via the Labrador Current along the Canadian coast into a part of the Atlantic known as “iceberg alley.”

"In an average year, few make it all the way down to a latitude of 48°N, which takes them into the important shipping corridors. But in a warm period, more cracks appear in the ice and the meltwater at the base of glaciers acts as a lubricant, allowing the ice to slip into the sea more quickly," Dr. Myers explained. "This means more icebergs form and move. The more icebergs there are, the more likely it is that a few will float into the most important shipping lanes."

Only a few hundred icebergs migrate south of 48°N in a typical year, but in 1912, more than a thousand did. As the Titanic embarked from Southampton on April 10, 1912, with New York City as its planned destination, an iceberg was making its way to latitude 41°N, the same latitude as New York City.

Icebergs weren't the only natural hazard that night. Historian Tim Maltin analyzed witness accounts, weather reports and ship logs from April 1912, Dr. Myers noted in his book. Maitlin discovered that strange reflections and optical illusions were reported.

The evening the Titanic struck the iceberg, the temperature had dropped to below freezing.

"Even with that cold air temperature, the ice-filled waters were colder than the air above, creating a phenomenon known as thermal inversion," Dr. Myers elaborated. "It refracted light in a strange way, creating a false horizon that made objects seem smaller and closer than they actually were. Most importantly, you could not see objects until they got closer. The area between the false and true horizons appears as haze."

Those aboard the Titanic could not see the deadly iceberg due to the haze. Additionally, the night was clear with no moon, so those on lookout duty aboard the ship would not be able to see waves breaking around the bases of icebergs. "The lookouts spotted the berg and sounded the alarm only one mile from the hazard. It was too late for a ship the size of the Titanic to change course," Dr. Myers said.

"By the time the Titanic went down, the air temperature had dropped to 29°F. Although many of the passengers survived the sinking of the ship, most of those who ended up in the ocean suffered hypothermia and died from exposure. In all, more than 1,500 perished that night.

Following the sinking of the Titanic, a number of new maritime safety measures were enacted, including The Radio Act of 1912 which required ships to maintain radio communications with other ships and with stations along the coast. It regulated the use of certain bandwidths for shipping.

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea Treaty was passed in 1914 and required every vessel to include enough lifeboat space for every person on board. The treaty also created an International Ice Patrol, which continues to warn ships of iceberg danger to this day.

Dr. Myers said it isn't just weather from the past that has his attention these days. He continues looking to the future with a timely reminder of how crucial weather and meteorology are for the future of the planet.

"This job is more important than ever as the number of icebergs in the North Atlantic is expected to increase thanks to climate change, which is melting Greenland’s glaciers...Our ability to forecast and understand weather and climate change has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decades, yet we must remain humble," he said.

"We have become better at modeling and predicting but no better at controlling the weather...Weather nudges us in ways large and small. We can only imagine how it will continue to alter our best-laid plans and shape our history as we go forward. Yet I remain optimistic in our ability to meet these challenges."

You can purchase Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Shaped History from Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and wherever good books are sold.

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