On Clear Ice
Clip | 3m 29sVideo has Closed Captions
Lake expert John Magnuson explains the phenomenon of "black ice."
When Wisconsin Public Television graphic designer Jennifer Hadley took her daughter out to skate and watch ice boats racing on Madison’s Lake Mendota, she was amazed out how clear the ice was. She put together this video incorporating some amazing images she shot with some commentary from lake expert University of Wisconsin-Madison emeritus professor John Magnuson.
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Wisconsin Life is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by the Wooden Nickel Fund, Mary and Lowell Peterson, A.C.V. and Mary Elston Family, Obrodovich Family Foundation, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, Alliant Energy, UW...
On Clear Ice
Clip | 3m 29sVideo has Closed Captions
When Wisconsin Public Television graphic designer Jennifer Hadley took her daughter out to skate and watch ice boats racing on Madison’s Lake Mendota, she was amazed out how clear the ice was. She put together this video incorporating some amazing images she shot with some commentary from lake expert University of Wisconsin-Madison emeritus professor John Magnuson.
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From fire to ice.
Black ice.
From blizzards to ice storms.
Old man winter zeroed in on Wisconsin this year.
And through it all we discovered something unique.
A lake polished into a brilliant gem by strange weather patterns.
As part of our Ques environmental reporting project, we explored the phenomenon known as black ice with John Magnusson UW emeritus professor of zoology and limnology in Madison.
Where so many people have noticed that the ice is so clear on Lake Mendota this year.
But it's not usually crystal clear when you get out and walk on Mendota.
But it is this year, and we often call this crystalline ice, which you can see here.
Black ice.
And the ice isnt black.
It's like a window pane.
It's transparent.
Well people see all sorts of things.
And at this time of the year we'll get a lot of inquiries.
Like I saw this under the ice.
What's wrong?
I saw this under the ice or I found my anchor.
So why do we have clear ice this winter, when typically we don't?
We had a, a little bit of rain and a January thaw, and then the little bit of snow that was on top melted and got rained on, and then that froze a new layer right on the top of the ice.
So again, it was ice rather than frozen slush that was forming.
In the word ice in Greek is crystal, and it's spelled a little differently, but crystal.
And so you tend to think of glass crystal or it's something that's crystal clear.
Now, these bubbles happen to be from, oxygen bubbles, from photosynthesis of this algae before it broke loose in the bottom.
Well, in fact, the lake, as you just discovered, is very activ under there in the wintertime.
Lots of processes, lots of life going on.
And so when we study the lakes, we study them year round.
That report was generated by our graphic artist, Jen Hadley, who discovered the black ice phenomenon while out skating with her daughter, Sophie.
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Wisconsin Life is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by the Wooden Nickel Fund, Mary and Lowell Peterson, A.C.V. and Mary Elston Family, Obrodovich Family Foundation, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, Alliant Energy, UW...