photo (50 ft): thin first-year fast ice; snow; ice foot (Environment Canada)
photo (50 ft): fast ice; brash in channel; ice cakes floes are detached from the fast ice; snow (Environment Canada)
Sea ice which forms and remains fast along the coast, where it is attached to the shore, to an Ice wall, to an Ice front, between shoals
or grounded icebergs. Vertical fluctuations may be
observed during changes of sea-level. Fast ice may be formed in situ from sea water or by
freezing of Pack ice of any age to the shore, and it may extend a few metres or several
hundred kilometres from the coast. Fast ice may be more than one year old and may then be
prefixed with the appropriate age category (old, second-year, or multi-year). If it is thicker than
about 2 m above sea-level it is called an Ice shelf.
