Ice

To be used with Navigation in Ice Notes

A quick re cap
Iceberg - a large mass of free-floating ice that
has broken away from a glacier. (Glaciers a
flowing mass of ice, created by years of
snowfall and cold temperatures.)
Most icebergs come from the glaciers of
Greenland or from the massive ice sheets of
Antarctica, the process of icebergs breaking
off of a glacier is called calving.
Icebergs consist of freshwater ice, pieces of
debris, and trapped bubbles of air. The
combination of ice and air bubbles causes
sunlight shining on the icebergs to colour them
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in shades of blue, green, and white.

When and where Ice Forms?

Winte
r

Jan

Summe
r

July

Summe
r

Winte
r
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An iceberg
floats because it
is lighter and
less dense than
the salty
seawater, but
only a small part
of the iceberg is
visible above
sea level.
Typically, about
80% of an
iceberg is below

Some definitions
Ice island:Thick slab of floating ice occupying an
area as large as 180 square miles (460 square
kilometers).
Ice sheet:Glacial ice that covers at least 19,500
square miles (50,000 square kilometers) of land
and that flows in all directions, covering and
obscuring the landscape below it.
Ice shelf:Section of an ice sheet that extends into
the sea a considerable distance and that may be
partially afloat.

Drift
patterns
in the
Southern
Ocean

Iceberg B15
(295km long and 37km wide)
Surface area of 11,000km
(4,250miles)
larger than the island of
Jamaica

Iceberg B15
The mass was estimated around
three billion tonnes
After almost a decade, parts of B-15
have still not melted

Northern Icebergs

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20 may 2011 - A large chunk of the massive iceberg

that broke off Greenlands Petermann Glacier in
August 2010 is featured floating in the Labrador Sea
off the eastern coast of Labrador (see next slide)

The calving last year gave birth to an iceberg that

covered an area of around 245 sq km and measured
about 30 km long and 15 km wide at its foot and
almost 7 km wide at its head, making it the largest
iceberg in the northern hemisphere.
Since then, the large iceberg has broken into
several smaller pieces. The piece featured here,
named PIIA, is about 12 km long and 6 km wide and
covers an area of around 72 sq km.
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Iceberg Alley
More than 1000 icebergs flow off
southern Labrador and northern
Newfoundland from late May to late
June, earning the area the nickname
'Iceberg Alley'.
Ice floes (top) are visible drifting
southwards in the sea. White swirls
indicate drift of the small pieces of ice in
response to ocean vortexes, or 'eddies',
and are an expression of the ocean
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Ice
distributio
n
Since
1881

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Ilulissat the town of

Icebergs

A satellite photo of Ilulissat

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North American Ice Service (NAIS)

1st Feb 2011 North American Ice Service
formed
Partnership between International Ice
patrol (IIP) and Canadian Ice service (CIS)
Joint distribution of iceberg analysis
covering the Grand banks, of
Newfoundland and the East Coast of
Labrador
New joint maps
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Ice patrols
North American Ice Service
Baltic.org (Baltic icebreaking
management)

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Frazil Ice
Frazil ice is a collection of loose, randomly
oriented needle-shaped ice crystals in water.
It resembles slush and has the appearance of
being slightly oily when seen on the surface of
water.
It sporadically forms in open, turbulent, supercooled water, which means that it usually
forms in rivers, lakes and oceans, on clear
nights when the weather is colder, and air
temperature reaches 6C or lower.
Frazil ice is the first stage in the formation of
sea ice.
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Frazil Ice

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Pancake ice
Pancake ice is a form of ice that consists of
round pieces of ice with diameters ranging
from a few inches to many feet, depending on
the local conditions that affect ice formation.
It may have a thickness of several inches.
Pancake ice features elevated rims with a
nearly uniform height of a few inches. The rim
is formed by piling the frazil ice/slush/etc. up
the edges of pancakes when they collide,
both due to random bumping into each other
and because of periodic compressions at
wave troughs. These rims are the first
indication of the onset of the formation of the
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Pancake ice

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Definitions
Shuga Ice - Accumulation of spongy white lumps
a few centimetres across; new ice formed under
agitated conditions.
Growlers - Very small chunks offloating icethat
rise only about 1 metre out of the water.
Bergy bits - Smallicebergs, rising between 1 - 4
metres out of the water. These may be small
icebergs in the latter stages of melting, iceberg
fragments, or pieces of floebergs or hummocked
ice.
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Floebergs / Pack ice

A "floeberg" is a massive piece of sea ice
composed ofpressure ridgesor hummocks(ice
that rises up because of movement of the pack
ice or the pressure of ice floes jamming and
crushing against each other) and which has
separated from the ice pack. It may typically
protrude up to 5 metres above sea level.
As theice packis frozen sea / salt water,
floebergs - unliketrue icebergs- are not frozen
freshwater and would not make good ice cubes
for your drink.
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Pack ice

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Pack ice with a lead

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Ships stuck
in pack ice

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Ice blink

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Fog and
Icebergs

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Regulation 31 - Danger Messages

The master of every ship which meets with dangerous
ice is bound to communicate the information by all
means at his disposal to ships in the vicinity, and also to
the competent authorities.
The form in which the information is sent is not obligatory.
It may be transmitted either in plain language (preferably
English) or by means of the International Code of Signals.
MCA state The Master's report is to be sent, preferably
in English or using the International Code of Signals, to the
appropriate National or NAVAREA Coordinator for
navigational warnings via a coastal station.
Details of NAVAREAs are given in Vol.1 of the Admiralty
List of Radio Signals (ALRS).
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Regulation 32 - Information
required in danger messages
The following information is required in danger
messages:
1. Ice, derelicts and other direct dangers to
navigation:
1.1 The kind of ice, derelict or danger observed.
1.2 The position of the ice, derelict or danger when
last observed.
1.3 The time and date (Universal Co-ordinated Time)
when the danger was last observed.
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Navigation in Ice DVD

End

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