[Granville-Hough] 11 Aug 2009 - Snap, Crackle, and Pop Ice

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

    When I was assigned to Thule, Greenland, I learned it was the land 
of snap, crackle, and pop.  Of course, this required some special ice in 
your glass, with some kind of liquid poured over it. Where did this ice 
come from?
    We soon learned that just beyond the huge BMEWS radar was an inlet 
from the ocean, and on the other side was a huge cliff of ice formed by 
glaciers which calved into the inlet.  These huge hunks of ice would 
eventually float southward and become icebergs in the North Atlantic, 
but here in the inlet, they got hung up on the bottom, and just rocked 
back and forth in the wind and tide.  At some point, the soldiers and 
airmen at Thule found these were fine sources of fresh water.  Because 
of the entrapped air in the ice, the glacial ice did indeed snap, 
crackle, and pop as it melted.
    It sounds easy that we could go out on the frozen inlet with an 
icepick and chip off as much as you wanted from the nearest iceberg; 
however the rocking motion of the big hunk of ice back and forth kept 
open water and mushy crushed ice right next to it.  You get out there 
and there is the hazard of that few feet of open water and crushed ice.  
After some near fatalities, the commander forbade collecting ice except 
under special circumstances and permission.  So you got to see snap, 
crackle, and pop on rare occasions.
    But it was there!