| Term: | Fracture |
| Definition: |
Any break or rupture formed in an ice cover or floe due to deformation. NOAAHydrology
Any break or rupture through very close pack ice, compact pack ice, consolidated pack ice, fast ice, or a single floe resulting from deformation processes. Fractures may contain brash ice and/or be covered with nilas and/or young ice. Length may vary from a few metres to many kilometres. Fractures, by definition, are narrower than leads and may not aid navigation of surface vessels. ASPECT2012 A restricted space, the length of which is comparable with the width of ice-free water, or very open broken ice among solid, very close and close ice. Diamond- or lens-shaped fractures form as a result of the shear of ice floes along the line of an earlier crack or lead. Due to cracks and leads not being rectilinear, they expand in some places and converge in other places under slight pressure. Hummocking can form a chain of fractures. This is the most stable type of fracture and can exist for several months. In the autumn-winter period, nilas and young ice and then first-year ice forms at their surface. Less stable fractures the shape and dimensions of which constantly change, are formed as a result of shears between giant and vast ice floes and by local divergance of close ice of smaller formations. Bushuyev Any break or rupture through very close pack ice, compact pack ice, consolidated pack ice, fast ice, or a single floe resulting from deformation processes. Fractures may contain brash ice and/or may be covered with nilas and/or round ice. Length may vary from a few yards (meters) to many miles (kilometers). WMOSeaIce In hydrologic terms, any break or rupture formed in an ice cover or floe due to deformation. NOAA-NWS Sea ice terminology. Describes any break or rupture through very close pack ice, compact ice, consolidated ice, fast ice or a single floe, resulting from the deformation processes. Fractures may contain brash ice and/or be covered with nilas and/or young ice. Their lengths may vary from a few metres to many kilometres long. ECCCanada GCW |