Ice formation
Lakes at high latitudes or high altitudes are ice covered part of the year; typically from November to April and in the very north sometimes from October to early June. Arctic lakes may be ice covered throughout the year. When there is a regular ice cover for several months, the ice thickness reaches more than ½ meter. At mid latitudes occasional ice cover may appear for short periods several times during a winter. Where there is a stable ice cover, ice roads are prepared. Fishing is done also at commercial scale. Ice covered lakes are used for recreation.
Ice on a small lake is formed rather quickly after the surface water is cooled down to the freezing point – most often after a cold night with no wind. It takes much longer time for a large lake to freeze-over than a small lake, since relatively warm water is brought to the surface during the more intense mixing in a large lake. Ice on lakes grows in a static way; there is no horizontal transfer of ice but the ice grows...
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Bengtsson, L. (2012). Ice Covered Lakes. In: Bengtsson, L., Herschy, R.W., Fairbridge, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lakes and Reservoirs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4410-6_10
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