Comment on Why are there circles of melted snow on this icy pond?

• Rakonat@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It has less insulation between the lowest point of the water and the cold air above it. All else being equal ice freezes to uniform thickness. The shallowest parts of a pond or river are the most likely to down to the ground. There’s several other factors, but the biggest one mostly comes down to how deep the water is and how fast its flowing if at all.

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  • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    but doesn’t that also mean less insulation to the warmer ground? Flow of course messes with everything. But looking at the pick, the shoreline didn’t fully freeze, implying shallow freezes last. Though google says shallower lakes freeze first. So the is a missing dynamic here somewhere.

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    • Rakonat@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not really, the ground can freeze and get colder. This is why early winter, first snow and flurries will seem to melt instantly when they touched down, but as the season continues the ground cools off till snow can stay frozen on the surface.

      While it’s true the deeper you go the more stable it becomes, the earth has thermal layers just like the atmosphere, and whats more the water above the ground insulates the ground from freezing faster, so the deeper the water the less it’s going to freeze from below.

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