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Thursday, 3 March 2011

Lake Michigan's Amazing Striped Icebergs!

While on the subject of snow and ice - many of my recent posts are from Norway - these are not. However, they are amazing and fit right in anyway. Thanks mum, who has just sent these to me. 


Amazing striped icebergs



Icebergs in Lake Michigan sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with melt water and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the lake, a layer of water can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the lake.









The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice. That's what it is like in Lake Michigan where it is the coldest weather in decades Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing.







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