Blue ice covering Lake Fryxell in the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of a glacier that winds its way toward a body of water (river, lake, ocean, etc.). During its travels, all of the air bubbles that are trapped in the ice are squeezed out, and the size of the ice crystals increases, making it clear. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1560x1083, 670 KB) En: The blue ice covering Lake Fryxell, in the Transantarctic Mountains, comes from glacial meltwater from the Canada Glacier and other smaller glaciers. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1560x1083, 670 KB) En: The blue ice covering Lake Fryxell, in the Transantarctic Mountains, comes from glacial meltwater from the Canada Glacier and other smaller glaciers. ... Lake Fryxell (77º37´S 163º11´E) is a lake 4. ... The Blue ice covering Lake Fryxell, in the Transantarctic Mountains, comes from glacial meltwater from the Canada Glacier and other smaller glaciers. ... A glacier is a large, persistent body of ice, formed largely of compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. ...

The blue color is often wrongly attributed to Rayleigh scattering. Actually, the ice is blue for the same reason water is blue. Namely, it is a result of an overtone of a OH molecular stretch in the water which absorbs light at the red end of the visible spectrum.^[1] Rayleigh scattering causing a reddened sky at sunset Rayleigh scattering (named after Lord Rayleigh (RAY-lee)) is the scattering of light, or other electromagnetic radiation, by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the light. ... An overtone is a sinusoidal component of a waveform, of greater frequency than its fundamental frequency. ... Hydroxide is a polyatomic ion consisting of oxygen and hydrogen: OH− It has a charge of −1. ...

Runways

Blue ice is exposed in areas of the Antarctic where there is no net addition or subtraction of snow. That is, any snow that falls in that area is counteracted by sublimation or other losses. These areas have been used as runways due to their hard ice surface which is suitable for aircraft fitted with wheels rather than skis. Greek ἀνταρκτικός, opposite the arctic) is a continent surrounding the Earths South Pole. ... Animation of snowcover changing with the seasons Trees covered with snow Snow covering a leaf. ... Sublimation of an element or substance is a conversion between the solid and the gas phases with no intermediate liquid stage. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Look up aircraft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article concerns the skis used in skiing. ...

References

1. ^ http://www.dartmouth.edu/~etrnsfer/water.htm

• Why is ice blue?
• Glaciology of Blue Ice Areas in Antarctica
• Blue Ice in Antarctica
• Blue Ice Runways in Antarctica