Some pancake ice formed along the shoreline of Lake Erie recently, and I was fortunate enough to get out with friend to capture some images of this phenomenon.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

Pancake ice are small, disc-like pieces of ice. They are soft and slushy formations that float on the surface of rough, freezing cold waters.

Pancake ice starts as a layer of ice crystals that form on the surface of cold water. Under rough surface conditions, waves cause the ice crystals to break up.

These form small ice floats when they crash into each other. The crashing action causes the ice floats to take on round shapes.

Ridges form along their edges giving the ice floats their unique appearance.

Pancake ice can form on lakes and rivers. It is also quite common in Arctic and Antarctic waters. Some researchers speculate that the amount of pancake ice may be increasing in polar waters due to climate change.

Pieces of pancake ice can vary greatly in size with some reaching 3 metres in diameter (~9.85 feet).

Since I was already out in the cold, windy conditions with my camera, I decided to suffer a bit more by taking time to compose a few images along the shoreline. 🙂

Although it was bitterly cold, going out to brave the elements to photograph pancake ice was a worthwhile endeavor.

Not only did I capture some images of this icy phenomenon… I was also able to create some winter shoreline photographs as a bonus.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera equipment  noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,433 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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