What is an ice floe?

Floating ice, also known as floating ice, is the general name of all ice that floats freely on the sea surface and can drift with the wind and current. The general name of all ice that floats freely on the sea surface and can drift with the wind and current. According to the density of floating ice in the sea area (the ratio of sea ice coverage area to the total area of the sea area), it can be divided into: open sea (sea ice density <110, a sea area that can sail freely) and sparse floating ice (the density is 4/ 10 ~ 6/ 10), and the floating ice body is generally. If the floating ice freezes together, it is called dense floating ice. All kinds of huge ice cubes separated from continental glaciers or continental shelf ice are called icebergs, which are more than 5 meters above the sea surface, and the height can reach tens of meters (the height above the water surface is about 1/5 ~ 1/7 of the total height), and the length is usually hundreds of meters to dozens of kilometers, which are divided into table-shaped (flat-topped) and pointed icebergs, as well as Iceland with a huge area. The drift of ice floes and icebergs mainly depends on the interaction of wind and current. In the weak current sea area, the ice drift speed caused by wind is about 1/50 of the wind speed. The drifting direction is 30 ~ 40 to the right in the northern hemisphere and 30 ~ 40 to the left in the southern hemisphere. In strong tidal waters, the direction and speed of ice flow are more complicated. In the Arctic Ocean, most of the floating ice is multi-year ice with a thickness of 3-4 meters, followed by annual ice with a thickness of 2.5-3 meters, which mainly flows around the edge of the ocean basin. In the southern hemisphere, most of the ice floes are winter ice with a thickness of 2 ~ 3 meters, and the boundary distribution of the ice floes is regular: in the South Pacific and the South Indian Ocean, they are between 50 ~ 55 south latitude and 45 ~ 55 south latitude respectively; The South Atlantic is between 43 and 55 degrees south latitude.