Polar backbone (Arctic Ocean)
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Polar backbone (Arctic Ocean)

by Grace Shephard, Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Ice ridge in the late afternoon light, taken from onboard the icebreaker Oden during the "Arctic Ocean 2016" expedition in August and September, 2016. This ice ridge, or pressure ridge, was around 5 meters across and 2 meters high. The captain often steered to avoid these ridges, which are formed from the collision of two ice floes. Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean reached a minimum for 2016 on September 10, at 4.14 million square kilometers.

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