Home » Natural Resources » Water » Complete Explanation About Ice Eggs in Finland

Complete Explanation About Ice Eggs in Finland

by Reananda Hidayat Permono

Various factors obviously impact some rare natural phenomenons, such as geographical location, climate, air temperature, weather, time, etc. There are some effects of weather and climate on life. One of the rare nature phenomenons appeared in Europe, specifically in Finland. This country, with Helsinki as its capital city, witnessed thousands of ice eggs along its shoreline. No wonder the amazing event made people excited, it was even discussed endlessly by some experts. So here are the complete explanation about ice eggs in Finland.

Explanation About Ice Eggs Phenomenon

Such a rare phenomenon occurred in Finland, thousands of ice eggs with various sizes covered a beach in Finland not far from Marjaniemi, Ostrobothnia. This amazing event has been found by an amateur photographer Risto Mattila, when he and his wife were walking in the Hailuoto Island, between Finland and Sweden. The temperature was at freezing point at that moment, around -1 degrees Celsius.

According to Mattila, the thousands ice eggs widely covered the beach, around quarter of football field size. The size is vary though, from the size of chicken egg to a football-size. Didn’t want to miss the rare event, Mattila immediately took some pictures and share it to his social media account.

Actually, the phenomenon can be explained scientifically. During that time, Finland was enduring winter season, the temperature was even below zero degree Celsius. According to the an ice specialist Jouni Vainio from the Finnish Meteorological Institute, it could happen due to the combination of the right temperature of weather and water. There are 9 properties of water.

Vainio explained that we need various things to create the ice eggs, such as the air temperature below zero degrees, water temperature close to zero degrees, gentle slope of the sand beach, and calm waves. The ice was collected and shaped by the gentle wave that was coming back and forth. That combination created ice eggs that became bigger and bigger. Such a strong wind won’t create ice eggs. On the other hand, an idle water would only create a flat frozen water appearance. There are some advantages and disadvantages of groundwater in our life.

According to the professor of geography-geology of Illinois State University, Dr. James Carter, autumn is the right time to witness the ice eggs phenomenon, since ice have been gradually created on the water surface. Mattila was quite lucky to find the ice eggs though, as the ice eggs would only shortly appear and melt afterwards. Actually sea could also give significant impact for climate.

Meanwhile according to the weather expert from BBC, George Goodfellow stated that the ice eggs were formed during windy and cold weather. The ice eggs were created from the sheets of ice that shaped into eggs due to the sea wave. That explains the soft appearance of the eggs. So, that is the complete explanation about ice eggs in Finland.

It’s Not the First Time Though

Apparently it’s not the first ice eggs appearance. It has happened in the Finland Bay, Russia, and Glen Arbor Lake in Michigan, the United States. In 2018, Nyada people in the Ob Siberia Bay, Russia, found giant ice balls near river. The ice balls covered the shoreline along 18 km, even in some places the ice balls have turned into walls. They have various sizes, from the size of tennis ball until one diameter. The ice balls remained for a little while. Therefore, some tourists from other places came to watch the rare phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the ice balls that occurred in the Glen Arbor Lake were popularly called the Ice Boulders. The ice balls were formed due to the force from the lake, hence the ice on the lake surface were shaped into balls. It was a rough winter season in the United States, even the water was frozen. The cold weather was also called the Polar Vortex. The winter was moving from the south to the east of the United States, with the temperature of 0 until -20 degrees Celsius. Besides Glen Arbor Lake, you should know about the 10 largest lakes in the world.

That’s the article of the complete explanation about ice eggs in Finland. Hopefully the information is useful for you.

You may also like