A recent cold snap - dubbed the 'Beast from the East 2' has coincided with the final retreat of the floodwaters here in Tewkesbury. This has made for some icy scenes out on the floodplains, with massive lakes of water freezing solid.
As the supporting water underneath drained away, the ice was essentially 'placed' on the ground, so it has all sorts of levels, with some higher parts, some lower, and a real sense of movement and energy. This meant that these great ice sheets had downhill and uphill slopes, so if it were strong enough to walk on, it would be very difficult. Where objects had been submerged in the water, the ice has broken and cracked, creating some truly beautiful and quite unique environments. It's unusual to get sheets of ice forming on a field and then being 'placed' on top of the terrain and objects on the terrain, even in colder countries where ice is common. This makes this ice particularly spectacular and special!
If you've ever spent time near large amounts of ice, you'll be well aware of how noisy it can be, and how alive it feels. And even with these relatively thin sheets, that was still the case, perhaps amplified by the receding water destabilising it underneath. As I stood and admired its beauty or stood and piloted the drone, around me constantly were these icy noises of cracking, smashing and pressure. The third one there is a little difficult to explain. If you've ever been near large amounts of ice you'll presumably have heard it. That laser like sound of pressure building or being released that echoes through the ice sheet and off the terrain.
In the short video below, I show off a few of the sounds I managed to record on the 11th, where the warming sun made the ice particularly lively. In one clip, at around 0:15 to 0:20 seconds, you can hear a small example of this unique 'pressure' sound that characterises the ice. If you look closely at around that timestamp, you can see the liquid water under the ice moving, which is what applied the strain on the ice and made it make that noise.
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