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View aft on USCGC Healy cutting through pancake ice.

View aft on USCGC Healy cutting through pancake ice.
View aft on USCGC Healy cutting through pancake ice.
View aft on USCGC Healy cutting through pancake ice.
View aft on USCGC Healy cutting through pancake ice.
Geolocation data
(74°32′51″N, 121°10′27″W)
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195238
Gong, Donglai
View aft on USCGC Healy cutting through pancake ice.
Still Image
12/22/2011
graphics/Arctic_D_Gong/DSC_3221.JPG
Image of The Day caption:
Smooth Sailing Through Pancake Ice
The icebreaker USCGC Healy opens a path through first-year pancake ice in the Amundsen Gulf during a 2011 mooring cruise in the Arctic Ocean. Though pancake ice can cover large areas, its relatively easy for a ship like the Healy to break through. Pancake ice isnt usually thicker than about 4 inches, though it can be as big as 10 feet in diameter. This relatively thin ice usually forms when waves push slushy water together at the surface. Thats easy steaming for the Healy though; the 420-foot ship can break 4-1/2 feet of ice continually when traveling at 3 knots.
Photo by Donglai Gong
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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