What it is ain't exactly clear.
The picture is dull and dark, but it was a grey rainy evening. Just a perfect evening for ATV'ing out of town to change the tire on a truck with no spare.
The picture is of Arctic Bay (the body of water) from the opposite side of town. Arctic Bay (the Hamlet) is off the photo to the right. What it shows is a large crack in the ice of Arctic Bay, although I had driven past the best view of it (safety first).
The sea ice forms cracks in its surface in the spring, they are part of the annual cycle up here. This year, several people (who have actually been out on the land as opposed to just writing about it) have commented on the large number of cracks that have already formed this year. I couldn't remember ever seeing cracks in Arctic Bay (the body of water not the… Oh you get the idea) before so I asked around and it is very unusual. Most people I talked to can't recall this happening.
Ironically, more cracks in the ice in the spring generally means a later break up of the ice. There is a pretty logical reason as to why that is. Crack drain off surface water from the top of the ice, and it is actually these pools of water, acting like large lenses, that really break up the ice come spring. The pools turn to small channels and break the still thick ice into pack. You can see the difference in Arctic Bay (the body of…) this spring, with not much surface water lying around, albeit a little more today after the rain.
I'm not sure what this means for our ice this year, or why there are so many fractures including some in areas that traditionally see none. The first thought I had is that perhaps the ice isn't as thick this year, but I really have no idea if that is the case. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens as the season progresses.
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Weird. But, I will have that song in my head all day now. It’s okay though . . . I like it. 🙂
Aha. Earworm. Join the club Liza, I’ve had it rolling around in my head since I started composing the post.