Giant iceberg flips violently near Greenland exposing its underside - 'I didn't know they could do that'

A massive iceberg did a stunning and scary flip off the coast of Ilulissat, Greenland, near the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ilulissat Icefjord on July 25. A video shows the icy body flipping through the sea, creating a rough and scary scene. It does this with such force that the rough underside of the iceberg was also visible as waves hit through. A video shows houses on in the foreground as the massive icy body thrashes in the sea. No injuries were reported. Netizens reacted with shock and awe to the video of the flipping iceberg.

One wrote, "What's astonishing is when you realize just how deep the water has to be to do that, THAT CLOSE TO THE SHORELINE.... Greenland isn't for wimps," with another adding, “A massive iceberg flips in mere seconds. What looks most solid can collapse without warning. Nature needs no words it quietly reminds us never to take the fragility of everything for granted.”

Shocked netizens are in disbelief, watching the iceberg flip

Some even thought it was an AI-generated video and couldn't be real. However, the video has apparently been shot by a local resident and is real. Other users pointed out that such an event can trigger a local tsunami. "Does this create a huge wave that grows as it gets to the coast?" one asked.

"I didn't know they could do that! I always thought they were too bottom heavy to turn!" one said. A major chunk of icebergs is typically under the surface of the sea. So for it to be flipping this way means it has either broken from the middle, or melted away. “Wow! Very lucky that speeding iceberg in the ocean didn’t take someone out.”

Climate change and glaciers

Ocean waters have witnessed a huge spike this year, with the Pacific several notches above normal because of El Nino. The weather phenomenon has been particularly bad this year, with predictions warning of the worst one in 150 years. Ilulissat Icefjord is located 250 km north of the Arctic Circle. Climate change is impacting the world's glaciers and icebergs, with calving events seeing an uptick. The story is the same in Antarctica where the Doomsday Glacier, Thwaites, could vanish by the 23rd century. By around 2067, Thwaites alone could lose 180–200 gigatonnes of ice per year.