Glossary
The English version of our glossary is currently under construction and will be regularly updated.
Fast ice
Sea ice that is normally anchored to the place where it first formed.
Sea ice of any kind that is anchored (despite negligible horizontal motion) to a coast or to another stationary object. It is normally anchored to the place where it first formed. Fast ice can form directly from seawater or by drifting ice freezing together and can extend up to several hundred kilometres seawards from a coast. When water levels change, it can be subject to vertical variations. Fast ice more than a year old is referred to by its age (old, two-year, multiyear). If its surface extends more than 2 m above sea level, it is referred to as an ice shelf.