ice floe

Thân thiện

A small boat navigates carefully around a drifting ice floe.

Definition

Noun: A large, flat, free-floating sheet of ice on the surface of a body of water, typically the sea. It is a fragment of sea ice that has broken away from a larger ice sheet or shelf.

Usage

An "ice floe" refers specifically to a discrete, floating sheet of ice. It is used to describe the physical feature itself, often in contexts related to polar regions, oceanography, navigation, and wildlife habitats. * The ship carefully navigated through the field of ice floes. * Polar bears often use ice floes as platforms for hunting seals.

Advanced Usage

• "To be trapped on an ice floe": A phrase describing a dangerous situation where a person or animal is stranded on a drifting piece of ice.
  • The explorers were rescued after being trapped on an ice floe for two days.

Variants and Related Words

• Floe (n): A shortened, common form of "ice floe".
  • The kayaker paddled between the drifting floes.
• Ice field (n): A much larger area of floating ice, often covering many square miles, from which ice floes break off.
• Pack ice (n): A large area of floating ice composed of many ice floes packed together.

Synonyms

• Ice pan (n): A less common synonym for a small ice floe.
• Floating ice (n): A general descriptive term.

Related Phrases

• Floe berg (n): A rarely used term for a very large, tabular ice floe that resembles an iceberg. (Note: This is a compound term listed here as a related phrase, not as a primary definition of "ice floe").

Học thuật

Noun

1. a flat mass of ice (smaller than an ice field) floating at sea

Từ đồng nghĩa

• floe