Aufice, Why is it blue? Options

[BJ]

Hello, I live near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and was just amazed by your great pictures of
the aufice (s?).

When ice forms here, it's more a dingy, yellowish color; not the beautiful blue as seen in your pictures.
To what would you attribute the difference - is it the pristine waters in Alaska or perhaps a cleaner atmosphere?

I'm really enjoying the journals.

BJ

[Charla_Jordan]

Hi BJ,

I asked several scientist here at Toolik about your question and this is the general answer I received. Aufice is formed by stream water freezing on the bottom and by layers and layers of snow fall on the top. All of these layers are then compacted together, just like a glacier. Because of the compaction and the layering, when the light shines through the ice, it appears blue. The best hypothesis I heard for this is that somehow the ice is reflecting or refraction the blue color in the light.

Hope that answers your question. Thanks again for reading my journals!

Charla