A frozen turbulent sea or pressure ridge? Definitely pressure ridge!
Happy 80th birthday Dad! I am thinking much of my family as we near Thanksgiving. I am missing them as I am now in my last week of deployment. On Friday, I will be returning home, but will miss seeing the beautiful mountains and seals, as well as the outstanding science talks and all that this experience has held. I am very lucky to have had this opportunity!
Melt pool on the pressure ridge tour.
Sculptures of ice made by nature!
Broken ice block along the pressure ridge tour.
I had initially planned on writing one journal that covered both my hike last night and today's journal topic, but I realized at 2am this morning that I had far too many pictures! I couldn't possibly do either journal justice if I had to cut down to half as many pics. Instead, I decided, a little late in the game, to do two separate journals and hope you find the pics are worth the wait!
This pup seal is already fairly large, but not quite weened. Mom rests her head on the little one's tail!
Seal pup started nursing. We were able to get pretty close.
Crack in the ice. Don't step over there! These develop all over and are hard to see under the blanket of snow.
The pressure ridges form as a result of shelf ice 'pressing' out onto the sea or fast ice. When enough pressure builds up, waves, much like ocean waves, are frozen in place and sometimes the waves will lift and break leaving behind a treasure of nature's finest ice sculptures.
A near perfect wave of ice, though not truly a wave frozen in place! Pressure from the shelf ice onto the fast ice creates these cool features!
Yes, we were able to get this close… at least with my camera lens!
Seal pup has a snowy nose!
Our tour guide Linna was kind enough to snap this pic for me during our hike on the pressure ridges.
Broken ice blocks along the pressure ridge tour.
More cool sculpting that really plays with your senses.
More whiskers, different seal!
Another tour goer took this picture in front of one of the natural ice sculptures.
The hiking tour is a bit dangerous and must be led by trained guides. There are melt pools and crevasses in the sea ice this close to land and with the amount of snow we received, most of them are now hidden. The route is flagged but even so, there are still dangerous spots. One of our tour members actually took a step on the trail and immediately was near waste-deep in snow with his foot getting wet in the melt pool below. We were given sticks and both tour guides carried ice axes to poke our way around the trail safely. Along the journey, many seals were spotted. The seals have plenty of access to the sea from all of the cracks and use this area heavily. We were able to get as close as is allowed to a seal without a permit!
A lone spire of ice stands tall and ever so slightly blue.
Waves of ice frozen in place with Castle Rock in the background.
Pressure ridge tour afforded lots of beautiful vistas.
A frozen lunar landscape except here on planet Earth!
Plates of ice sticking in every direction. Nature is amazing!
A pristine looking field of snow and ice. These pressure ridges we viewed were mostly single year ice formations.
Flat Lorax is rooting for the Packer's today. This card is for Brian in Saukville!
Flat Lorax card for a very special Packer Fan, Brian, my husband, in Saukville!
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