Sea ice is frozen seawater. Because ice is less dense than its melt, sea ice floats. Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth’s surface, or about 12% of the world’s oceans. In the North, it is found in the Arctic Ocean, in areas just below it and in other cold oceans, seas and gulfs; in the Antarctic, it occurs in various areas around Antarctica (the continent). Due to the combined action of winds, currents and air temperature fluctuations, sea ice expanses are very dynamic. In the fall and winter, the ice grows progressively thicker, defining floes of various sizes that collide against each other. This activity also goes on in the spring and summer, but during that time part of the ice melts. This ice may be contrasted with icebergs, which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean. Unlike sea ice, which is saline, icebergs are made from fresh water. They may be enclosed within sea ice expanses and drift along with it.
Read more about Sea Ice: Types of Sea Ice, Formation of Sea Ice, Yearly Freeze and Melt Cycle, Monitoring and Observations, Modelling, Ecology, Relationship To Global Warming and Climate Change
Famous quotes containing the words sea and/or ice:
“Is there any place on land or sea where there is no war?... Blackout. Blackout. Blackout. Blackout. Everywhere people stumblin’ in the dark. Is there to be no more light in the world? Is there no place in this dark land where a man who’s drunk can find a decent bit of fun?”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)
“‘Line in nature is not found;
Unit and universe are round;
In vain produced, all rays return;
Evil will bless, and ice will burn.’
As Uriel spoke with piercing eye,
A shudder ran around the sky;”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)