Cryosphere glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

floating ice

any form of ice found floating in water.

floe

separate patch of floating ice or flat sheet of unbroken pack ice, greater than 20 meters (22 yards) across.

flooded sea ice

ice that is pushed into the underlying ocean water by the weight of thick snow cover on its surface; the salty ocean water floods the snow cover and creates a salty, slushy layer; flooded sea ice is more common in the antarctic because of more snowfall and thinner sea ice than in the arctic.

Ted Maksym, Unites States Naval Academy

flow finger

a small percolation channel that is a beginning path for surface meltwater through snow or firn.

flowline

a line following the spatial pattern of glacier movement from the top to the terminus. Englacial and supraglacial moraines make some glacier flowlines discernible from the surface.

fluted berg

an iceberg that is grooved into a curtain-like pattern; thought to be carved by small meltwater streams.

foehn

a warm wind blowing down an incline; a kind of katabatic wind.

fog

a hydrometeor consisting of a visible aggregate of minute water droplets (or ice crystals), suspended in the atmosphere near the earth's surface; according to international definition, fog reduces visibility below one kilometer, fog differs from cloud only in that the base of fog is at the earth's surface while clouds are above the surface; when composed of ice crystals, it is termed ice fog.

foliation

layering in glacier ice that has distinctive crystal sizes and/or bubbles; foliation is usually caused by stress and deformation that a glacier experiences as it flows over complex terrain, but can also originate as a sedimentary feature.

forbes bands

alternate bands of light and dark on a glacier; usually found below steep narrow icefalls and thought to be the result of different flow and ablation rates between summer and winter.

forel stripes

shallow, parallel grooves on the face of a large melting ice crystal.

foundation pile

structure used when the soil near the ground surface is not strong and the weight of the building must be carried by deeper soil layers.

fragmic cryogenic fabric

a distinct soil micromorphology, resulting from the effects of freezing and thawing processes, in which soil particles form discrete units that are densely packed.

fragmoidal cryogenic fabric

a distinct soil micromorphology, resulting from the effects of freezing and thawing processes, in which soil particles form discrete units that are coalescing.

Fram Strait

a sea channel connecting the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, running between Greenland and Spitsbergen. Fram Strait is the passageway where most drifting sea ice exits the Arctic.

frazil

small needle-like ice crystals, typically 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter, suspended in water, that represent the first stages of sea ice growth; they merge under calm conditions to form thin sheets of ice on the surface, frazil crystals consist of nearly pure fresh water.