The pilots who made the flights between the Soloretskie Islands and Archangel have informed 

 me that during the flight of 10 April 1942, after a heavy three-day thaw, they saw for the first time 

 during the winter, in the straits between Muksalma Island and Letnaya Zolotitsa River, ice floes of 

 rounded shape with small walls (rims) of grated ice on the edges. 



Somov noted three phenomena very typical of melting ice during the air reconnaissance of 

 21 May 1942 in the neck of the White Sea: 



1. Almost complete absence of hummocks on the ice fields, although they were noted in 

 previous reconnaissances. This observation of Somov, like other observations, confirms the fact 

 that the hummocks are first to be destroyed in the spring season. 



2. Decrease in area occupied by the ice fields and increase in number of small and large 

 floes while the same percentage of ice is maintained, demonstrating the continual breaking of ice 

 fields in the spring season. 



3. Obvious predominance of four or five sizes of floes which has still not been explained, 

 this connection we may recall the suprising uniformity in shape and size of pancake-type ice. 



In 



U the ice is sufficiently open or scattered, particularly in the summer, along with the 

 rounding of contours and thickening of edges after the breakup, it acquires a very characteristic 

 shape due to the washing action of the waves. A hollow is formed along the water line in a complete 

 girdle around the floe. Over this there is a comparatively small cornice which often breaks off and 

 underneath it the subsurface ram (taran) juts out. Such rams on large ice blocks (nesiak) present a 

 considerable danger for ships. 



Figure 110. Destruction by waves of an ice block (nesiak) according to Burke. 



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