Plate ice along Lake Superior, Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States
© wanderluster/Getty Image
Lake Superior, Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States
When winter tightens its grip on Lake Superior in Minnesota, United States, the shoreline transforms into a landscape of tilted, glass-like shards known as plate ice. Thin sheets fracture under shifting temperatures, then drift and stack as the wind presses them toward land. The result is a field of translucent blues and silvers, catching the light at sharp angles and making the water's edge appear sculpted rather than frozen.
Beneath the surface, waves keep moving, pushing the slabs against one another as they scrape, ring and groan. The sounds rise and fall with the motion, turning the shoreline into a fleeting, shifting performance. These formations can appear suddenly and disappear just as quickly, changing with every gust and temperature dip.
Lake Superior's immense scale shapes this phenomenon. As the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area, spanning over 82,000 square kilometres, its depth, wind patterns and temperature swings set the stage for this winter display. Its Ojibwe name, 'Gichigami,' from the Indigenous people of the region, reflects its long-standing reputation as a 'great sea.'
Related Images
Winter at the Isis Temple in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Climbing Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada as the Aurora Borealis glows
Ice-fishing village near L'Anse-Saint-Jean, Quebec, Canada
A rider hunts with an eagle in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia
From NASA’s Terra satellite, an image of fallstreak holes in clouds over the southern United States
Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival, which begins today
For Science Fiction Day, inventor Nikola Tesla and his ‘magnifying transmitter’
Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state
Bing Today Images
