| Inside a freezer |
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The
ice caves are incredible. They're found in
the glacial tongue of a near by glacier, a
floating extension of a glacier into
McMurdo Sound. During the late summer,
there's water in these caves. In the
spring when everything is still frozen,
there is a flat, level floor to walk on.
Ice crystals line most of the surfaces.
Like frost in a freezer but the ice
crystals are the size of your hand. The
light was soft blue as the sun penetrated
through the snow. The caves were not very
deep.
To give you an idea of the scale of the center picture, the longer ice cycles are about 5 feet long. The bumps on the bottom are 1-2 feet tall. The ice crystals were the size of your hand. They hung lightly from the roof. It's cold in there and we wear all of our cold weather gear. You constantly brush your hat on the ceiling and get ice down the back of your neck. |
Click on the picture to see the image in full size.