overflow

overflow, originally uploaded by aimos325.

Here's a lesson for the readers out there: "if it's black, don't go
back!"

This is a picture from a remote lake in Alaska where some friends own
land. We landed and glided across the surface and then took off
again. Then we circled back to inspect the tracks and sure enough--
they turned black. What happens is new, heavy snow weighs down the
ice enough that water rises up through the cracks (forming puddles in
the tracks). This kind of slushy conditions causes problems for
snowmachines and planes, so we didn't land on the ice.

Overflow is a concept I learned in my Arctic Engineering class-- so it
was pretty cool to see in real life!