/35* 



/«.o* /tS" 



/So" 



/S5° /60° 



/«5* 

 7f 



/35° 



/^o 



/^5 



/S0° 



/S5' 



/60' 



/is- 



Figure 40. Fast ice region of the New Siberian Islands . 



A straightening of the fast ice edge is characteristic in areas having strong tidal currents. 

 The off-shore band of floating ice, when moving along the edge of the fast ice and when pressing 

 against it, creates ridges above it. In the White Sea such ridges of crushed ice are especially 

 characteristic along the Terskii shore from Ponoi to Cape Nikodinskii and at Rombakev in the 

 Onezhskii Gulf. 



Fast ice extension along the comparatively deep eastern shores of Novaya Zemlya is also 

 characteristic. As has been established by numerous aerial reconnaissances here, the fast ice 

 line at the moment of its greatest development, extends from cape to cape, filling in the bays and 

 the fjords of the shoreline. 



As we have seen, due to the very conditions of its formation and existence, level fast ice 

 forms in closed bays and narrow straits and is hummocky along open shorelines. 



At first, the increase in the thickness of the ice proceeds rapidly, but later, in spite of con- 

 tinued low air temperatures, ice accretion slows down. As a result, the ice which had formed 

 with the beginning of frost and which had not undergone hummocking, by the beginning of January 

 already attains a thickness greater than 100 cm in the seas of the Soviet Arctic. This thickness, 

 in conjunction with the low temperature of the ice, is already sufficient to withstand the usual 

 forces which break up fast ice. The formation of fast ice and the establishment of the position of 

 its sea edge can be considered as finished by the above-indicated time. During the course of the 

 winter, strong heaping occurs along this edge, due to the pressure of the floating ice upon the fast 

 ice, and when the floating ice leaves the edge (caused by corresponding winds), wide fast ice poly- 

 nyas are formed. The latter phenomenon is so characteristic, and has impressed all observers so 



114 



