PANCAKE ICE 



settled down into long rows or strings as they crept 

 gradually downwards under the influence of gravitation 

 to the level of the sea ice below. As the shore was high 

 and rocky, and seemed not more than half a mile dis- 

 tant, I went over towards it after our evening meal. It 

 proved to be somewhat further than it appeared. 



On the way, for the first time, I met with a structure 

 in the sea ice known as pancake ice. The surface of 

 the ice showed a rounded polygonal structure something 

 hke the tops of a number of large weathered basaltic 

 columns. The edges of these polygons were slightly 

 raised, but sufficiently rounded off by thawing or 

 ablation to afford an easy surface for the runners of 

 our sledge. Later on, in the autumn of the following 

 year, we noticed this pancake ice in process of formation. 

 If, as was often the case, there was any wind when the 

 sea began to freeze over, the water at first commenced 

 to look soupy ; little by little the small ice particles 

 which caused this appearance aggregated and formed 

 myriads of small structures which may be likened 

 to small open jam tarts. These would then coalesce 

 in groups at their edges and form pancake ice. These 

 pancakes were from one foot up to about three feet 

 in diameter. Later, the pancakes would cohere and 

 so a continuous hard ice crust would be formed over 

 the sea surface; later freezing simply had the effect 

 of strengthening and thickening this ice-sheet from 

 below. Close in shore the pancake ice was traversed by 

 deep tidal cracks. After climbing over these I reached 

 the shore, which was composed of a well-marked terrace 

 of coarse gravel and large and small erratic boulders. 

 The smaller rock fragments were from three to six inches 

 in diameter, the boulders being as much as five feet 

 in diameter. The lower terrace was about twenty 

 yards wide and as many feet in height above the sea; 



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