Drift ice is floating sea ice composed primarily of saline water that has frozen into consolidated or unconsolidated floes, typically ranging from centimeters to several meters in thickness. As a substance, it consists of a porous matrix of ice crystals, brine inclusions, gas bubbles, and entrained sediments or biogenic material, with physical properties (density, salinity, thermal conductivity, and mechanical strength) that vary with temperature, age, and brine drainage. Drift ice is mechanically and thermodynamically active, undergoing deformation, rafting, ridging, and melt–freeze cycles, and it moves under the combined forcing of ocean currents, wind stress, and Coriolis effects within the marginal ice zone and pack ice regions.
A floating research station resembling a giant aluminum igloo on Sunday set out from France to begin a long-term mission in the Arctic that will see it drift with the polar ice in one of the most hostile environments.
Earth Sciences
Jul 20, 2026
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Buffalo's legendary snowfall totals are largely the result of one unlucky geographic reality: the city sits east of the Great Lakes instead of west. Anyone who has lived through a winter in Buffalo, Cleveland or any snowbelt ...
Earth Sciences
May 13, 2026
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A 93-strong international expedition team has been exploring the northwestern Weddell Sea in the Antarctic on board the Alfred Wegener Institute's icebreaker Polarstern since February 8, 2026. In this key region for global ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 8, 2026
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Sea ice is sticking to Alaska's northern coast for less time each year, according to 27 years of data analyzed by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists. Such landfast ice, which stays attached to the shoreline instead ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 28, 2026
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People in northern Germany flocked to the Elbe river Monday to marvel at giant Arctic-style ice floes that have clogged up a stretch of the waterway, creating a headache for shipping but delighting visitors.
Environment
Jan 19, 2026
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A new study reveals there was a time when massive icebergs, like the ones we see in Antarctica today, were drifting less than 90 miles off the U.K. coastline.
Earth Sciences
Apr 24, 2025
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