1,000 icebergs appeared in the sea in 2017.

This is the fourth consecutive major iceberg season, with massive quantities of icebergs entering shipping lanes in the North Atlantic.

Ships operating at sea are susceptible to collisions with icebergs. Photo: Christian Science Monitor.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced yesterday at its annual conference in London that approximately 1,000 icebergs appeared in shipping lanes in the North Atlantic in 2017, according to CNBC.

Greenland's glaciers are shrinking, and storms are breaking up large amounts of sea ice, creating numerous icebergs, according to Kristen Serumgard, head of the U.S. Coast Guard's International Ice Patrol. They have detected 1,008 icebergs in shipping lanes, compared to only 687 in 2016.

The International Ice Patrol classifies ice age seasons into light, medium, or large categories based on the amount of ice. This year marks the 19th major ice age since 1900 and the fourth consecutive major ice age.

The International Ice Patrol was established after the Titanic disaster with the mission of eliminating the risk of ships colliding with icebergs. They regularly conduct reconnaissance flights to map the locations of icebergs.

Even with modern radar systems, ships sometimes fail to detect icebergs, Serumgard said. "We don't want another Titanic disaster to happen," she said.

Based on data regarding sea ice, air temperature, and sea surface temperature, the Canadian Ice Service predicts that the number of icebergs will decrease to around 500 next year.

The International Ice Patrol is using satellite imagery more and more. In 2016, only 2% of icebergs were detected by satellite, but that percentage has risen to 22% this year.

Serumgard hopes they can transition to using satellite imagery entirely to redirect Coast Guard aircraft to other missions, although this process will take years. The cost of using satellite data in the past was very high, and it was difficult to distinguish between icebergs and ships in the images, especially small icebergs or vessels, she added.

According to VNE