Fast Ice

fast ice [¦fast ¦īs]

(hydrology)

Any type of sea, river, or lake ice attached to the shore (ice foot, ice shelf), beached (shore ice), stranded in shallow water, or frozen to the bottom of shallow waters (anchor ice). Also known as landfast ice.

(oceanography)

Sea ice generally remaining in the position where originally formed and sometimes attaining a considerable thickness; it is attached to the shore or over shoals where it may be held in position by islands, grounded icebergs, or polar ice. Also known as coastal ice; coast ice.

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Fast Ice 

the basic form of stationary sea ice cover. The greatest accumulations of fast ice are found in the arctic and antarctic, along the rugged coasts and between islands. It forms in the late fall and remains stationary until the beginning of summer because it is frozen to the shore; in shallow water it is fastened to the bottom as well. During the winter, fast ice usually covers bays, straits, and expanses of water for several hundred km in the East Siberian Sea, Laptev Sea, and elsewhere; the ice is 2.5 to 3 m thick, sometimes thicker. In higher latitudes, fast ice lasts for several years and may become 10 to 20 m thick.