Ice Shards Are Stacking Up in Lake Superior

Ice shards, or ice plates as they are know, are stacking up on Lake Superior, and it looks amazing.

The Lake Superior Facebook photo page posted that this is not the ice shove type of event where massive boulders of ice take out structures. This is just thin plate ice breaking up on a wind shift after a very cold night and it is amazing to watch.

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So, what is really going on here?

To fine out I turned to an article on atlasobscura.com which says that these icy pile-ups are caused by cycles of cold and warm weather, as the lake’s frozen layer breaks up and gets pushed around by the wind.

It really is a complicated formula that creates ice on lakes and the Great Lakes, and way over my head. However, University of Minnesota website, Segrant.umn/edu, tries to break it down for us non-scientists.

They say: The two most important factors in determining how ice forms are temperature and turbulence. Temperature is under the control of climate and turbulence is affected by the size of the water body and the materials that make up the bottom and sides of that water body. Turbulence in streams is driven by the speed of water and by the kinds of materials that form the stream’s channel. Bumpy materials result in more turbulence. Turbulence can also be high in large lakes when the wind can blow over the water surface for large distances and creates waves and currents.

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I'm lost, but I'll just be amazed and love it.