An iceberg named after my brother!

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The coolest thing ever happened yesterday and I am sure you will agree with me! Continue reading to find out more!

An article of the Danish Meteorological Institute appeared on the Facebook page of my brother Tuomas with a comment “Not everybody has a giant iceberg drifting in Greenland named after him. Watch out, here comes the Iceberg Niskanen!!“.

While I was writing Tuomas to know more I was asking myself if the heat wave in Finland had melted his brain –after all his Facebook comment sounded rather absurd, didn’t it? But no, I soon learned that it was a true story. Tuomas responded to me to explain that his former colleagues had paid respect to him by naming an iceberg after him. As simple as that. During one of their research missions they found a new iceberg drifting in the ocean near Greenland, thought about my brother Tuomas, and called it after him. Isn’t this is the most cool thing ever??? 

When my brother Tuomas was sunbathing in Svalbard, little he knew that across the Greenland Sea there was an iceberg that was going to be named after him.

When my brother Tuomas was sunbathing in Svalbard, little did he know that across the Greenland Sea there was an iceberg that a few years later would be named after him.

I also learned that prior to spotting the Iceberg Niskanen off the coast of East Greenland, near Tasiilaq, the Danish Ice Service had been surveying it from July 12 to July 23. The Iceberg Niskanen had moved at the speed of 0.5 knots in the recent days and its speed was expected to increase the closer it gets to the southern tip of Greenland. Moreover, the Ice Service seemed pretty certain about the origin of the Iceberg Niskanen: Jøkelbugten in Northeast Greenland.

As this iceberg measures more than 2km times 4km (the size of the capital of Greenland!), I remain hopeful that it will resist the global warming, at least as long as it takes Tuomas to visit his namesake!

PS Coincidentally yesterday was also my brother’s birthday, so by this recognition he probably received the biggest birthday present anyone can ever get! Or can you think of anything bigger?

The Danish Meteorological Institute article: http://www.dmi.dk/nyheder/arkiv/nyheder-2014/07/nuuk-stort-isbjerg-passerer-tasiilaq/

***

One day after this post, Helsingin Sanomat, the main newspaper in Finland, published an article about my brother and the iceberg. It can be read here (in Finnish): http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/Gr%C3%B6nlannista+irtautunut+j%C3%A4%C3%A4vuori+sai+nimekseen+Niskanen/a1407031200275

21 thoughts on “An iceberg named after my brother!”

    1. Miia Post author

      Hi Eija, are you Anita’s friend, the same EN?

      Yes, technically speaking the iceberg is named after us too 😉

      Where does your family come from In Finland? Maybe we are related…

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      2. Miia Post author

        Thanks for asking. It went really well. He had prepared in advance, so the answers were very clear and professional.

        Funnily my father was on TV yesterday because he helps a research center in their research project that takes place in the lake where our summer house is. It is about crayfish 🙂

        Have you already arrived in Australia? How is everything going?

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      3. Hayley

        Oh wow! You must be so proud!! I love Crayfish 🙂 We arrive in 9 days so very busy doing the final prep. I have actually started a new blog so it’s not just about food, that must be why it said you weren’t following. 🙂

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      4. Miia Post author

        Ok, good luck during these last days –moving is always tiring. But at least you are moving towards summer 🙂

        Are you changing your FB page too?
        Btw, are you on Instagram?

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      5. Hayley

        Thank you! I haven’t got around to it yet but yes I will, I also keep meaning to sort out my Instagram account, it’s been neglected for some time now!

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      7. Miia Post author

        PS Strange, I am sure I was following your blog, but now when I clicked on it, everything looked different and I was no longer following! Did you change the server or something?

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