Swirly Ice Pancakes Seen To Float Over the Scottish River

As temperatures decreased, discs of ice or "ice pancakes" have been seen to decorate the surface of a Scottish river. According to Live Science, dozens of these ice pancakes were observed on top of the body of water.

The sight was spotted last December 9 by Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (SISI) project manager Callum Sinclair. They were found in Scotland's River Bladnoch.

(Photo: Pexels / Syed Qaarif Andrabi)

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Ice Pancakes Cover a River

Photos of the ice pancakes were officially posted on SISI's Twitter account last December 13. The agency also released a short clip of these discs bumping with each other and being pushed by the water current.

Project Manager Callum came across this rare phenomenon on the River Bladnoch in Galloway on Friday. 'Ice pancakes' are unusual in Scotland and most commonly found in Canada, the US, around Antarctica and in the Baltic sea. Specific conditions are required to create them. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iCFOWYPkm4
— Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (@SISI_project) December 13, 2022

On a river they are believed to form when foam begins to freeze and is sucked into an eddy. The swirling current creates a circular shape as the frozen discs increase in size and are rubbed against each other. 2/2 @ScottishEPA @BBCSpringwatch @BBCScotland pic.twitter.com/GNtFnsF1da
— Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (@SISI_project) December 13, 2022

Sinclair expressed how he has seen the same phenomenon in the past. However, he mentioned how these ones were particularly intriguing because of their perfect and full form.

How Do Ice Pancakes Form?

Yahoo News reported that the UK's Met Office shared that ice pancakes are relatively rare. They tend to take place in lakes and oceans with extremely low temperatures. These discs are frequently spotted in Antarctica, the Great Lakes of North America, and the Baltic Sea.

According to BBC, these unique shapes come to be as the foam reaches the freezing point. These chunks of ice then bump with each other and get rounded edges.

The Met Office of the UK also shared that these discs can only form under specific circumstances. They can distinctly form in two different ways.

Across lakes, seas, and oceans, such a phenomenon occurs when waves push, forming ice pieces to bump with each other and end up with rounded edges as they grow and get frozen. Tiny rims get formed on the edges as water splashes because of the bumps and end up freezing and becoming part of the rim.

The discs also form when river foams freeze and start joining together. As these bits get sapped into a swirling water current, they end up in a circular form. Over time, other pieces of ice and frozen foam hit the disc and end up freezing into it and making the ice pancakes even bigger.

Though they look like hard and sturdy pancakes, these disks tend to be slushy. They also easily deform when carried or lifted.

However, if they are under consolidation conditions, these discs can bind together to come up with a sheet of ice. In conditions that are rougher, waves may push such sheets, which, in turn, makes them bend or crack.

Ice Pancakes Also Spotted in Glasgow

Others also spotted the same phenomenon across Linn Park in Glasgow. According to Daily Telegraph, Sumac MacDiarmid captured clips of these ice disks drifting through a waterfall within the said park.

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