Aventura motoring through ice
Well, since the last of my logs, we have acquired a new experience to
tick off our bucket-lists.
By our decision to sail to Arctic Bay, we were unfortunately way-laid by
ice floes. As the ice thickened about us, and leads became less
frequent, we decided to turn back to Lancaster Sound. While making our
way back through Admiralty Inlet, we soon found that the ice was packing
us in with no clear leads ahead.
Nera sitting on the ice
Sea water, due to the salt it contains, freezes at a lower temperature
than fresh water. The air and sea temperature were very low while we
were in the ice: around 0°C.
The ice which was around us ranged from bergy bits to ice islands which
are very deep. It also ranged from very blue ice which sat on the
surface and ice that was practically see through which made it difficult
to discern from the water around.
The ice surrounding us was multi-year ice and pockets of first year ice
which was still frozen. Multi-year ice stays frozen for the whole year
and in summer, breaks up and drifts on top of the sea. During summer,
multi-year ice loses its top layer, while in the winter, the water
beneath it cools and freezes on the bottom of the ice. As the ice melts,
meltwater pools form on the pieces of ice.
We eventually, through various punting techniques, made our way out of
the ice into clear waters around 22:00pm.
Overall, we’ve decided to look upon the event as a very good team
building exercise.
