Sunday, February 27, 2011

Evidence of the last ice age

This is a huge chunk of floating ice. If it had come from a glacier, it could be called an ice berg. But it came from a snow field and is not really blue glacier ice but is firn snow. Although if you look closely at the bottom of the floating snow, you will see blue ice. Here is the Wikipedia definition of firn snow,"Firn (from German Firn with the same meaning, cognate with for) is partially-compacted névé, a type of snow that has been left over from past seasons and has been recrystallized into a substance denser than névé. It is ice that is at an intermediate stage between snow and glacial ice. Firn has the appearance of wet sugar, but has a hardness that makes it extremely resistant to shovelling. Its density generally ranges from 550 kg/m³-830 kg/m³ and can be often found underneath the snow that accumulates at the head of a glacier. This firn snow pack is floating in Cecret Lake in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.

The edge of the firn has pink snow. Yes, it is pink and is caused by algae growing in the snow.

2 comments:

  1. word for "snow" in portuguese is "neve." Interesting post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Uaao (:
    Interesting post

    ReplyDelete