Ice can take many forms, and glacier ice, lake ice and water ice all have distinctive properties. The textures and patterns in ice are frequently very beautiful. These pictures are from our 2012 field season to Alexander Island.
A thin skein of ice on a meltwater pond
Patterns made in the snow by the wind.
Snow sculpted by the wind
Water droplets on a melting frozen waterfall
Hoar frost (freezing fog) makes frost flowers
Frozen lake ice with the crystals etched out by the wind. Lake ice crystals are shaped like candles.
Glacier ice in ice-shelf moraine. Note the white bubble-rich ice and coarse-clear basal ice.
Close up of the white bubble-rich ice. Note the sharp junction between the coarse-clear ice and bubble-rich ice.
A hoar frost ice crystal in the tide crack, formed during freezing fog.
A hoar frost flower.
A hoar frost ice cystal.
Hoar frost crystals group together to make frost flowers
Ice crystals etched by the wind on the ice shelf
A meltwater pond reflects a pressure ridge on the ice shelf.
Looking through the icicles.
Glacier ice with many bubbles exposed on the ice shelf. It is melting and thinning rapidly.
Glacier ice
Glacier ice with foliation
A patch of isolated and melting lake ice; note the cylindrical crystals.
Surface of a cold-based glacier, with cryoconite holes. These are filled with dark sediment, which preferentially melts.
Hi, I ended up here in the middle of a search inspired by a video i found on Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/b4lt4e/crystal_ice_formation/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share . This video isn’t from the antarctic region, according to the poster it’s from Nebraska. But this is the highest authority in relation to ice I have been able to find. Do you know why the ice formed like this?