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Why do I see ice layers on creeks and streams?
There are layers of ice on the creek that runs through my parents dairy farm and my stepfather brings this up alot and is puzzled why there are layers of ice extending out from the bank like on a lake but this is moving water?!? He pulled me aside one day and had a tape measure on him and measured from the ice layer to the water level and it read 8or9 inches and asked me how this happens. He's been puzzled by this ever since I can remember and I'm very determined to give him the answer. He brought it up at thanksgiving again!! PLEASE HELP it would mean alot to me, thank you!
2 Answers
- John BLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
Perhaps the level of the water in the creek changes and for some reason it is highest at night when the air is coldest.
- MooseBoysLv 61 decade ago
The movement of the creek helps prevent the water from freezing, even if it's below freezing temperatures. The water near the edge of the creek flows slower than the water near the middle of the creek, so if ice is going to form, it will form there first. The ice then slowly grows outward, as the water nearer to the ice begins to move more slowly as well. The ice gains its thickness from snowfall that melts and refreezes, which grows it upward, and from freezing water below the surface (which is also moving more slowly now), growing it downward.
A cool experiment would be to set up a time-lapse camera on a tripod that takes photos once per hour of the creek in question. You could then turn the pictures into a video to see the ice forming at a much more visible rate.
