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An ice floe (/ f l oʊ /) is a large pack of floating ice often defined as a flat piece at least 20 m across at its widest point, and up to more than 10 km across. [1] Drift ice is a floating field of sea ice composed of several ice floes.
While it is true that both glaciers and ice floes are large masses of ice that can be found in arctic regions, there is a major difference between them. Basically, glaciers originate on land, and ice floes form in open water and are a form of sea ice.
An iceberg is a large mass of freshwater ice that has broken off of a glacier or an ice shelf. An ice floe is a large, flat pack of floating ice. The difference between the two is that most of the ice floe’s mass is above the water’s surface, while about 90% of an iceberg’s mass is underwater.
Ice floes, however, do not only melt on the upper surface. The solar radiation absorbed there is also transferred through the ice. As a result, the floe becomes warmer overall and also begins to melt in the centre. The small brine channels become larger and the ice becomes more porous and brittle.
ice floe. a cohesive sheet of ice floating in the water; the sea ice cover is made up of conglomerates of floes; ice floes are not unique to sea ice, as they also occur in rivers and lakes. Aerial view of ice floes.
An ice floe is any contiguous piece of sea ice. Floes are subdivided according to horizontal extent.
In sea ice: Sea ice formation and features …(about 66 feet) across, and floes, which vary from small (20–100 metres [about 66–330 feet] across) to giant (greater than 10 km [about 6 miles] across). As the ice drifts, it often breaks apart, and open water appears within fractures and leads.
