Pressure Ridge

McMurdo Station, where I am, is situated on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. The Ice Shelf is basically an enormous tidewater glacier. By enormous I mean larger than France. Well, a glacier is basically a very slow moving river. Even though they move very slowly, they are still very dynamic and are constantly changing. At the edge of this huge 'ice shelf' the permanent ice meets up with what is softer, 'seasonal' ice, that is essentially just thick ice over the ocean water (5-30 ft. thick). When these two different types of ice meet up, there is tension and pushing, and pressure ridges are formed. These are some photos from a little hike we got to go on, through them the other day.

PS - These pictures were taken between 12 - 2 am!









These green buildings are our neighbors. This is Scott Base, the New Zealand / Kiwi base.