- This sea ice is normally a lot closer to the Ronne Ice Shelf, but in the image, strong winds have pushed it much farther away.
- The icy tendrils are made out of nilas, thin sea ice less than 4 inches (10 centimetres) thick.
- After being pushed across the channel, the nilas ice can be seen condensing into a thin, blue border around the sea ice.
- This stunning phenomenon could become more common due to climate change.
The unusual occurrence is caused by strong winds and ocean currents. Strong winds and unique ocean currents contributed to the creation of a breathtaking icescape on the ocean’s surface near Antarctica, which was just recorded in a stunning satellite photograph as reported by Live Science.
Antarctic Ice Sheet
The stunning image was captured on November 20 by the Operational Land Imager onboard Landsat 8, NASA-USGS cooperation, and released on December 8 by NASA’s Earth Observatory. The image shows a 3.7-mile-wide passage of water between the Ronne Ice Shelf, a permanent floating extension of the main Antarctic Ice Sheet that gave birth to A-76, the world’s largest iceberg, in May, and a large chunk of sea ice in the Weddell Sea.
Icy tendrils
The sea ice is made up of both multiyear ice (white) that sticks around year after year and first-year ice (grey) that is fresh.
This wider gap has allowed the wispy streaks of ice to form between the two larger chunks of ice.
The icy tendrils are made out of nilas, thin sea ice less than 4 inches (10 centimetres) thick.
Nilas is made out of frazil ice — tiny, needle-like crystals that are the first stage of sea ice growth — and it normally forms complete fragile sheets that sit on top of the water.
However, the strong winds create strange surface currents that prevent the nilas ice from forming into a single sheet and instead push it across the channel’s surface, according to a statement from NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Thin blue border
After being pushed across the channel, the nilas ice can be seen condensing into a thin, blue border around the sea ice.
Therefore, it is unusual to see this colour in nilas ice, which is very thin.
“I’m not quite sure how the sea ice here gets the blue colour,” Meier said in the statement, “but it’s possible the ice got compressed enough to cause that effect.”
This stunning phenomenon could become more common due to climate change.
During November, when the picture was taken, the Antarctic sea ice extent — the area of the ocean around Antarctica covered by sea ice — was well below the average for that time of year, according to the statement.
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Source: Live Science
