Anchor ice

Anchor ice growing on the sea floor in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Anchor ice is defined by the World Meteorological Organization as "submerged ice attached or anchored to the bottom, irrespective of the nature of its formation".[1] It may also be called bottom-fast ice.[2] Anchor ice is most commonly observed in fast-flowing rivers during periods of extreme cold, at the mouths of rivers flowing into very cold seawater, in the shallow sub or intertidal during or after storms when the air temperature is below the freezing point of the water, and the subtidal in the Antarctic along ice shelves or near floating glacier tongues, and in shallow lakes.[3]

  1. ^ WMO: WMO Sea-ice Nomenclature. Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization, 1970.
  2. ^ ""Bottom-fast ice pan domed by spring meltwater influx during breakup"". Archived from the original on 2013-06-25. Retrieved 2012-11-21.
  3. ^ Barnes, Howard T. (1906). Ice formation, with special reference to anchor-ice and frazil. NY: J. Wiley & sons.