Dragon hide ice sounds like something you ’d see beyond The Wall in the Game of Thrones phantasy land . But good news nerd , you’re able to find this magical - sounding stuff aright here on Earth — though you ’ve pose ta be lucky , and unforced to travel to some of the most hostile environments on the planet . Like the squad of Antarctic scientists who come across vast expanses of the bizarre , scaly icein the Ross Sealast hebdomad .
It ’s fall in Antarctica , and while most south pole expeditions have long since set out for warm waters and sunnier daylight , the 27 scientist aboard the Nathan B Palmer research vas continue to address toward the south polar in their quest to understand coastal polynya , areas of heart-to-heart ocean where ice forms incredibly fast , due to the constant exposure of fresh piss by hurricane - force , “ katabatic ” winds . Last workweek , these investigator were treated to a uncommon and fulgent good deal : sheet of scaly ice that look a lot like themicroscopic structure of a butterfly stroke extension . Or , to the more fabulously - pitch , dragon scale .
“ flying dragon - skin deoxyephedrine is very rare , flakey , evidence of a darker bedlam in the cryospheric realm , not seen in Antarctica since 2007 , ” Guy Williams , a scientist at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania participating in the ongoing expedition , said in astatement .
As Williams notes , dragon hide ice-skating rink is indeed a rare sight , though that may plainly be because we do n’t give ear around Antarctica in the winter too often .
“ I ’ve never seen anything like it , but few mass have been where he is in wintertime , ” Cecilia Bitz , sea ice investigator at the University of Washington , told Gizmodo .
Bitz observe that the experimental condition identify by Williams ’ in the printing press instruction “ sound normal for an Antarctic wintertime . catabatic steer are pervasive off Antarctica . They cause polynya , which are the ocean water ice factories of the S . ”
“ I ’ve never heard of dragon skin ice before , but it looks like pancake chicken feed that is frozen on top of a tack of frappe , ” Julienne Stroeve , sea Methedrine research worker at the National Snow and Ice Data Center , told Gizmodo . “ Really nerveless pictures of them . ”
As for how the mysterious ice forge ? Pancake ice , which Stroeve says is rough-cut in Antarctica , mannikin when piles of schmaltzy ice are shaped and sculpted by wave action at law or winds . Bitz agreed with this assessment . “ It looks like the sea ice grew in small disks and then piled up on itself in the warm wind instrument . Nothing unusual about that . ”
As of last hebdomad , Williams and his gang were crossing the Terra Nova Bay polynya in West Antarctica ’s Ross Sea , waiting for the katabatic winds to die down so they can continue to study the shelf water beneath the internal-combustion engine . We ’ve attain out to Williams for comment , and if he happens to be near an internet machine , we ’ll update this post when we hear back .
Dragon skin ice may be the natural consequence of quotidian physics , but it ’s for certain a reminder that the most distant corners of our major planet are filled with preternatural mantrap .
Update 4/10/17 : Willians , along with junket Chief Scientist Stephen Ackley from the University of Texas , San Antonio , have responded to Gizmodo ’s inquiry , confirming that dragon skin ice is a variation on pancake chicken feed . The unconsolidated ice crystals build into “ pancake ice ” ( round human body ocean methamphetamine hydrochloride that are ~ .5 m to 1 m in diameter ) by the moving ridge action packing the crystals together , ” Ackley enunciate . “ It appears that if the condition are particularly vivid , the pancakes are raft up onto the top and leave in the rasping “ tartar skin ” on the top surface . ”
Ackley noted : “ Although we ’ve observe some initial rafting ( producing a milder word form of dragon Methedrine that look more like fish scale ) while in the pith of the catabatic wind consequence ( 70 - 80 knots ) , we ’ve only seen the “ dragon skin ” formation in the backwash of the event when the tip and undulation have eased . ”
As for how the mission is going , Williams said the bunch is wrapping up its time in Terra Nova Bay , and will shortly travel south-east to comport similar experimentation along the Ross Ice Shelf polynya , where they foresee inhuman temperature but less utmost wind . “ Overall , everything is going really well , especially given the challenges of doing scientific discipline in the extreme conditions we are working in , and there is more to get . ”
AntarcticaScience
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