Pancake ice

Pancake ice

Pancake ice is a type of ice formation that is circular in shape and ranges in diameter from 30 cm to 3 m, with a thickness of up to 10 cm. The circular pieces of ice have raised rims due to striking against each other. It can be formed from frazil ice and can be influenced by onshore winds and surface waves. It can also be formed from newly formed ice in the marginal ice zone.From: In-Situ Burning for Oil Spill Countermeasures [2018], Effects of climate change on river-ice processes and ice jams [2023], Developments in Hydraulic Engineering [2019], Image Processing for Remote Sensing [2019]

In-Situ Burning on Ice, Snow or in the Arctic

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Published in Merv Fingas, In-Situ Burning for Oil Spill Countermeasures, 2018

Merv Fingas

Pancake ice consists of predominantly circular pieces of ice from 30 cm to 3 m in diameter, and up to about 10 cm in thickness, with raised rims due to the pieces striking against one another. It may be formed on a slight swell from grease ice or slush or as a result of the breaking of ice rind or, under severe conditions of swell or waves, of grey ice. It also sometimes forms at some depth at an interface between water bodies of different physical characteristics, in which it floats to the surface; its appearance may rapidly cover wide areas of water. Pancake ice is illustrated in Figures 3.14 and 3.15. Pancake ice is one of the conditions allows in-situ burning as it would contain floating oil (Figure 3.16).

Effects of climate change on river-ice processes and ice jams

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Journal Information

Published in International Journal of River Basin Management, 2023

B. C. Burrell, S. Beltaos, B. Turcotte

In low-gradient rivers, frazil ice can flocculate into slush ice, which eventually forms frazil pans. Rafted anchor ice and frazil pans can adhere to border ice and cause it to extend further into the watercourse or may form drifting pancake ice that travels downstream, sometimes over long distances. Pancake ice consists of predominantly circular pieces of ice with raised rims due to the pieces colliding with each other; a relatively thin crust of solid ice is underlain by a thicker accumulation of frazil slush.

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In-Situ Burning on Ice, Snow or in the Arctic

Effects of climate change on river-ice processes and ice jams