ICE FOOT 305 



there is every reason to believe that later in the winter the sea 

 ice grows to its great thickness of 8 and 9 feet largely by the 

 deposition of frazil crystals from below. 



There is very little growth from above due to deposition of 

 snow. 



After the first winter, when the Sound was completely frozen 

 over, the ice was seen on the return of the sun to be buckled in 

 the form of low waves two or three inches high and about 150 

 feet apart from crest to crest. This phenomenon was due evi- 

 dently to the dilatation of the ice on rising temperatures and was 

 remarkable by reason that in each hollow a tiny crack was visible 

 and remained open until the disappearance of the ice Nature's 

 provision for helping the break-up of the sea ice after a severe 

 winter. In mild winters when the outer Sound is kept free of 

 ice no such cracks or waves appe^jj. , 



ICE FOOT 



During the autumn, while the sea is as yet open and the tem- 

 perature low, the whole shore line becomes covered with a coat- 

 ing of frozen spray, which on account of its saline constituents 

 remains wet and sticky at even comparatively low temperatures, 

 and provides pendant masses in an infinite variety of form, from 

 a very stubby icicle to the so-called foot-stalactites, due to con- 

 stant accretion of snow drifting from one direction only. About 

 the same time there is growing on all shallow shores a low plat- 

 form a few feet above the surface of mean sea level. This 

 growth is due partly to drifted snow consolidated by spray, partly 

 to tidal action, and partly to growth direct from the waves and 

 sea. 



This ice foot later on becomes frozen clear to the bottom 

 on shallow shores and remains fixed to the land during the win- 

 ter, being separated by the working tide crack from the fast sea 

 ice beyond. 



PACK ICE 



Pack ice, in distinction to fast ice, is not bound to the shore, 

 but moves under the influence of local currents and wind. In the 

 Antarctic, pack ice is evidently seldom formed at sea and largely 

 consists of fast ice which has been broken away and carried off 



VOL. II 2O 



