Antarctic Dictionary
grease ice
grease ice noun
[Grease ice is recorded earlier in northern English with the same meaning, but even the earliest use there is relatively recent (DCanE, 1958).]
The second stage of new sea ice formation (the first being frazil), when small plates of ice begin to clump together, giving the sea's surface an oily appearance, and having a similar dampening effect on waves to that of oil.
1988 Murray-Smith, Stephen, Sitting on penguins: people and politics in Australian Antarctica Hutchinson Australia, Sydney: 62.
That's grease ice. It looks like oil on the water. It means the water is making up its mind to freeze.
1997 Gurney, Alan Below the convergence: voyages toward Antarctica 1699-1839 W.W. Norton & Co, NY/London: 58.
The stages of newly formed sea ice make a chanted refrain that would appeal to the ears of a child: frazil, grease, slush, shuga, pancake.
The Antarctic Dictionary, Hince, 2000; 152
