The Ice
The Ice
The state of water which is solid. The solid form of water. A rock island of ice. Just like molten lava cools to form solid rock when the temperature is below its melting point. Since the atmosphere is technically thinner in the high arctic – does this change the actual freezing point of ice? Apparently not, but these are the types of questions one ponders when you are up there. What we do know is that the glaciers here are cold based – that is, they are frozen to the ground. Unlike the glaciers in lower latitudes. They still move. Their weight, the mass crushing downwards until the very molecular structures are compressed, are modified, and deform. Movement is dependent on the plasticity of the ice. Just like rocks buried deep in the earth can be deformed by heat and pressure. It’s a metamorphic process of stretching and compressing. Water in its solid form acts in the same way as rock, just at lower temperatures and pressure. The annual buildup of snow on top of snow, accumulated over decades and centuries weigh down the underlying snow slowly squeezing them into stratified layers discernable by the darker dust of the seasons.
Compare the Crusoe glacier to glaciers in lower warmer climates. Glaciers in lower latitudes flow on a thin layer of melted subterranean water. Grinding away as they move on top of the landscape on a thin coating of water caused by pressure reverting the ice to liquid form. Much like the pressure of a skater’s blade melts the ice so they can skim along on an ice rink. These lower latitude glaciers combine the water with the debris and grit to erode the surrounding mountainsides. At these higher latitudes the physics of the colder environment preclude the reversion at the base to liquid. It is too cold to overcome so the Glacier is stuck to the underlying substrate. Since it does not slide across the land, it is frozen to the ground, relying on deformation of the solid water to move downwards. Instead of spreading out to an angle of repose, it calves in front to leave towering cliffs. Looking at the Crusoe Glacier it’s noticeable in the toe of the glacier (the end point) and sides where cliffs of ice predominate, and moraines, the result of erosion, are minimal. The Crusoe Glacier is a perfect example of a cold based Glacier.
Of course, that’s the science. The poetic nature of these behemoths is that they are their own ice islands in the landscape. Rivers of melted surface water and the summer rains flow across its top sometimes, disappearing into moulins. In some cases, the pressure from within causing an upward water flow to squirt back out the top. Waterfalls with all their gravity generated energy cascade outward, pure with nothing to taint them but the past centuries of snow.
A rock island of ice in the tundra crowned by mountain and adorned by fog.
Read MoreThe state of water which is solid. The solid form of water. A rock island of ice. Just like molten lava cools to form solid rock when the temperature is below its melting point. Since the atmosphere is technically thinner in the high arctic – does this change the actual freezing point of ice? Apparently not, but these are the types of questions one ponders when you are up there. What we do know is that the glaciers here are cold based – that is, they are frozen to the ground. Unlike the glaciers in lower latitudes. They still move. Their weight, the mass crushing downwards until the very molecular structures are compressed, are modified, and deform. Movement is dependent on the plasticity of the ice. Just like rocks buried deep in the earth can be deformed by heat and pressure. It’s a metamorphic process of stretching and compressing. Water in its solid form acts in the same way as rock, just at lower temperatures and pressure. The annual buildup of snow on top of snow, accumulated over decades and centuries weigh down the underlying snow slowly squeezing them into stratified layers discernable by the darker dust of the seasons.
Compare the Crusoe glacier to glaciers in lower warmer climates. Glaciers in lower latitudes flow on a thin layer of melted subterranean water. Grinding away as they move on top of the landscape on a thin coating of water caused by pressure reverting the ice to liquid form. Much like the pressure of a skater’s blade melts the ice so they can skim along on an ice rink. These lower latitude glaciers combine the water with the debris and grit to erode the surrounding mountainsides. At these higher latitudes the physics of the colder environment preclude the reversion at the base to liquid. It is too cold to overcome so the Glacier is stuck to the underlying substrate. Since it does not slide across the land, it is frozen to the ground, relying on deformation of the solid water to move downwards. Instead of spreading out to an angle of repose, it calves in front to leave towering cliffs. Looking at the Crusoe Glacier it’s noticeable in the toe of the glacier (the end point) and sides where cliffs of ice predominate, and moraines, the result of erosion, are minimal. The Crusoe Glacier is a perfect example of a cold based Glacier.
Of course, that’s the science. The poetic nature of these behemoths is that they are their own ice islands in the landscape. Rivers of melted surface water and the summer rains flow across its top sometimes, disappearing into moulins. In some cases, the pressure from within causing an upward water flow to squirt back out the top. Waterfalls with all their gravity generated energy cascade outward, pure with nothing to taint them but the past centuries of snow.
A rock island of ice in the tundra crowned by mountain and adorned by fog.
