a slushy mush of ice spikelets formed by freezing in turbulent waters NRBS - Home Table of Contents
Fine, small needlelike structures or thin, flat, circular plates of ice suspended in water. In rivers and lakes it is formed in supercooled, turbulent water.
Stream ice with the consistency of slush, formed when small ice crystals develop in super-cooled stream water as air temperatures drop below freezing. These ice crystals join and are pressed together by newer crystals as they form. ( frasil)
Fine spicules, plates, or discoids of ice suspended in water. In rivers and lakes, frazil is formed in supercooled, turbulent water.
(Frasil ou frazil) Frazil ice, like grease ice, slush and shuga, is also known as “new ice,” a general term for recently formed ice. These types of ice are composed of ice crystals which are only weakly frozen together (if at all) and have a definite form only while they are afloat. (Canadian Ice Service Web site; Ice Terminology, under Ice Codes)
1. An accumulation of frazil in a body of water. 2. The initial stage of ice formation in turbulent water. Frazil ice consists of platelets or discs roughly 1 mm in diameter. These small platelets clump together to form shuga, and eventually (if sufficient open water area exists) form pancake ice. Frazil ice may form in open water leads and around the ice margins in the Arctic, but it is most common in the Antarctic. It may also form in turbulent rivers in winter, particularly in rapids.
fine spicules or plates of ice in suspension in water. Frazil crystals. (Photo courtesy of Don Perovich, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.)
Frazil ice is a collection of loose, randomly oriented needle-shaped ice crystals in water. It resembles slush and has the appearance of being slightly oily when seen on the surface of water. It sporadically forms in open, turbulent, supercooled water, which means that it usually forms in rivers, lakes and oceans, on clear nights when the weather is colder, and air temperature reaches –6°C or lower.