Rafting

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A pressure process by which currents or winds push around pieces of thin ice so they slide over each other. It is most common in nilas and grey ice. Rafting plays an important role in increasing ice thickness within the Antarctic pack. It is the dominant dynamic mechanism whereby floes reach between about 0.4 and 0.6m thick in the early stages of ice development. Beyond this thickness, converging floes are more likely to form ridges than to raft.

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