Antarctic Thesaurus
a
b
c
d
e
f
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
glacial cycles glacier grease ice growler
grease ice
grease ice 11th Feb 2002, Lat 68s Lon 70e
Peter Wiley, grease ice Still from timelapse animation, 11th Feb 2002
Scientist Peter Wiley led technical support operations for the Australian Antarctic Division's Marine Science programme for voyage 7, Jan-March 2002. Using a small webcam, he recorded much of the journey around the Amery Ice shelf, where the main scientific program of that voyage was undertaken. Oceanographic data was collected from the flow of ocean across the face of the Shelf. This sequence was taken from the ship RSV Aurora Australis, on 11 Feb 2002.
Ice crystals form on the surface of water and join together to become grease ice. Grease ice is impossible to break because it's already lots of little particles on the surface of the water held by surface tension. With continued cold conditions, the grease ice thickens by producing more and more crystals and these bond together. The resuting ice sheet becomes harder and less flexible. While it is still somewhat flexible, water movement can break up the new ice sheet and round out the edges into pancake ice. Further thickening results in the formation of more rigid sea ice.
Ken Wilson, 3 March, 2007, Sydney
