Arctic Ice Islands - Formation and U. S. Research Stations
Ice Island, a large, tabular piece of glacial ice adrift in the Arctic or the Antarctic oceans. Arctic ice islands are less common and generally smaller than Antarctic ice islands, or icebergs (see Iceberg), but their location makes them more useful and durable for research. Scientists have used drifting ice stations since the Soviet Union established North Pole I on floe ice in May 1937, but ice islands have been found preferable because they are longer-lasting.
Formation of Arctic Ice Islands
The glaciers of Canada's Ellesmere Island form a massive ice shelf that floats on the water at the ocean edge and yet remains attached to the shore. Progressive advances of the glaciers push the shelf seaward, and the combined action of winds, tides, and waves breaks loose large pieces of the ice. The ice islands then drift with the polar pack ice in the clockwise current of the Beaufort Sea area. The islands sometimes are many square miles in extent. Their surface appearance is distinct from that of regular sea ice because of the unique drainage patterns on the islands, and large rocks may be scattered on their surface.
U. S. Research Stations
The United States has had stations on two ice islands. The first, Fletcher's Ice Island (T-3), was manned in April 1952. T-3 was 4 by 9 miles (6.4 by 14.5 km) in area and about 200 feet (60 meters) thick. It was occupied intermittently until it ran aground west of Barrow, Alaska, in 1960; it was then rediscovered adrift in February 1962 and reoccupied. The second station, ARLIS II (Arctic Research Laboratory Ice Station 2) was established in May 1961. The island was 2 miles (3.2 km) square and about 70 feet (20 meters) thick. It traveled from north of Barrow, across the pole, and down the eastern coast of Greenland before being abandoned in 1965.
Formation of Arctic Ice Islands
The glaciers of Canada's Ellesmere Island form a massive ice shelf that floats on the water at the ocean edge and yet remains attached to the shore. Progressive advances of the glaciers push the shelf seaward, and the combined action of winds, tides, and waves breaks loose large pieces of the ice. The ice islands then drift with the polar pack ice in the clockwise current of the Beaufort Sea area. The islands sometimes are many square miles in extent. Their surface appearance is distinct from that of regular sea ice because of the unique drainage patterns on the islands, and large rocks may be scattered on their surface.
U. S. Research Stations
The United States has had stations on two ice islands. The first, Fletcher's Ice Island (T-3), was manned in April 1952. T-3 was 4 by 9 miles (6.4 by 14.5 km) in area and about 200 feet (60 meters) thick. It was occupied intermittently until it ran aground west of Barrow, Alaska, in 1960; it was then rediscovered adrift in February 1962 and reoccupied. The second station, ARLIS II (Arctic Research Laboratory Ice Station 2) was established in May 1961. The island was 2 miles (3.2 km) square and about 70 feet (20 meters) thick. It traveled from north of Barrow, across the pole, and down the eastern coast of Greenland before being abandoned in 1965.
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