Drift ice, GreenlandFast ice (left, along shoreline) versus drift ice (right) in a hypothetical sea ice dynamics scenario
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).[1][2][3] Unlike fast ice, which is "fastened" to a fixed object, drift ice is carried along by winds and sea currents, hence its name. When drift ice is driven together into a large single mass (>70% coverage), it is called pack ice.[1] Wind and currents can pile up that ice to form ridges up to dozens of metres in thickness. These represent a challenge for icebreakers and offshore structures operating in cold oceans and seas.
Drift ice consists of ice floes, individual pieces of sea ice 20 metres (66 ft) or more across. Floes are classified according to size: small – 20 metres (66 ft) to 100 metres (330 ft); medium – 100 metres (330 ft) to 500 metres (1,600 ft); big – 500 metres (1,600 ft) to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft); vast – 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to 10 kilometres (6.2 mi); and giant – more than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).[4][5]
Drift ice affects:
Security of navigation
Climatic impact (see Polar ice packs)
Geological impact
Biosphere influence (see Ecology of sea ice)
Drift ice can exert tremendous forces when rammed against structures, and can shear off rudders and propellers from ships and strong structures anchored to the shore, such as piers. These structures must be retractable or removable to avoid damage. Similarly, ships can get stuck between drift ice floes.
The two major ice packs are the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic ice pack. The most important areas of pack ice are the polar ice packs formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions: the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean. Polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year. Because of vast amounts of water added to or removed from the oceans and atmosphere, the behavior of polar ice packs has a significant impact on global changes in climate.
Seasonal ice drift in the Sea of Okhotsk by the northern coast of Hokkaidō, Japan, has become a tourist attraction,[6] and is one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan. The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern Hemisphere where drift ice may be observed.[7]
^ abWMO Sea-Ice Nomenclature
^Weeks, Willy F. (2010). On Sea Ice. University of Alaska Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-60223-101-6.
^Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
^NSIDC All About Sea Ice
^Environment Canada Ice Glossary
^"A Port's Ice Is Thinning, and So Is Its Tourist Trade", The New York Times, March 14, 2006.
^"Honda, Meiji, Koji Yamazaki, Hisashi Nakamura, Kensuke Takeuchi, 1999: Dynamic and Thermodynamic Characteristics of Atmospheric Response to Anomalous Sea-Ice Extent in the Sea of Okhotsk. J. Climate, 12, 3347–3358". Journal of Climate. 12. Journals.ametsoc.org: 3347. 1999. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<3347:DATCOA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1520-0442.
Driftice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.). Unlike...
encompasses ice that is free to move with currents and winds. The physical boundary between fast ice and driftice is the fast ice boundary. The driftice zone...
A driftingice station is a temporary or semi-permanent facility built on an ice floe. During the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United States maintained...
up to more than 10 km across. Driftice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice floes. They may cause ice jams on freshwater rivers, and...
named Peaches. In Ice Age: Continental Drift, he gets into an argument with his teenage daughter before being pulled away in by the drift with Diego, Sid...
ice may either grow in place from the sea water or by freezing pieces of driftingice to the shore or other anchor sites. Unlike drift (or pack) ice,...
The Transpolar Drift Stream is a major ocean current of the Arctic Ocean, transporting surface waters and sea ice from the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian...
Edward Smith and his officers knew before they left Southampton that the driftice field was larger in extent and more southerly than in previous years....
driftice, Californian's captain, Stanley Lord, had decided at about 22:00 to halt for the night and wait for daylight to find a way through the ice field...
personnel of a British scientific weather station moving with the ice pack named DriftIce Station Zebra. This, however, is cover for the real mission. British...
polar region. Ice stations are constructed on land or on ice that rests on land, while others are driftingice stations built on the sea ice of the high...
topoi ("places") mentioned in Strabo's apparent description of spring driftice, which would have stopped his voyage further north and was for him the...
Russian manned driftingice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean. Scientific settlements were established on the driftice and carried thousands...
flowers. In the winter, tourists visit the city to watch the driftice. Abashiri Prison Driftice off Abashiri Abashiri's sightseeing ship & icebreaker Aurora...
Late Pleistocene and Holocene, mainly based on petrologic tracers of driftice in the North Atlantic. However, more recent work at a single site suggested...
racing driver, stunt driver, and television host. He competes in rally, drift, ice racing, time attack, hill climb and rallycross with multiple podium placements...
Seabed gouging by ice is a process that occurs when floating ice features (typically icebergs and sea ice ridges) drift into shallower areas and their...
but, due to the unstable nature of the ice, ended their crossing at the ice edge after drifting south on an ice floe for 99 days. They were eventually...
Look up ice pack in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Polar ice pack may refer to: Arctic ice pack Antarctic sea iceDriftice This disambiguation page...
Floating ice may refer to: Driftice, floating sea ice Floating Ice, a 2012 album by Michael Bisio Iceberg This disambiguation page lists articles associated...
Global Information
