Amazing Meadow of "Frost Flowers" Appears on Surface of Arctic Ocean

“I was absolutely astounded,” he says. They were little protrusions of ice, delicate, like snowflakes. They began growing in the dry, cold air “like a meadow spreading off in all directions. Every available surface was covered with them.” What are they?

“Frost flowers,” he was told. “I’d never heard of them,” Jeff says, “but they were everywhere.”

Came across this neat little story the other day, and thought it was worth passing on.


Behold ATS, a meadow of "frost flowers" in full bloom above the Arctic circle -





Some more pics via google image search:







What's cool is that even though these aren't real flowers of course, they are still apparently teeming with life:

And yet, he says, when he and colleagues checked, they found each frost flower housed about a million creatures. “That’s 10 to the sixth! Yeah, a million bacteria.”

Pretty awesome how resilient life is, and this once again raises the possibility of finding it in certain unconventional environments (other planets).

See the complete article for more info.

Nature is so cool.

The human/child in me wants to disturb them!

reply to post by mc_squared


Mama Nature's Bling......so beautiful....

Des

Any idea on the size of these flowers?
They look kind of big maybe just an effect just curios ty in advance nice find.

Originally posted by ed1320
Any idea on the size of these flowers?

For scale:

WOW! I have never seen anything like that!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much for sharing! How beautiful!!!!!!

reply to post by mc_squared


Well apparently that means this is definitely the only planet with those on its surface.

Very beautiful, I have never seen anything like it. Just ice in a forest where the water level dropped so you could walk and crawl under the ice. My friends and I played hide and seek under it-the hiders under the ice and the seekers on top of the ice. The seekers had to stomp and fall through the ice to catch us. That was so cool, I will never forget it.

Very cool. Ima pick some and send them to my girlfriend. But you guys know that is impossible because...why? Because I don't have a girlfriend. Are these flowers edible? That could be useful in a survival situation in the Arctic regions. But if you get lost in the Arctic, you probably should not have been there in the first place, because you apparently do not know what you are doing. Just my opinion. And yes I know these aren't real flowers, for those of you who do not get my crappy attempt at humor.

Absolutely beautiful. Never seen anything like that. Thank you for sharing.

Wow, thank you for posting this! I'd never heard of 'frost flowers' before and they are beautiful, like something out of a fantasy film! Things like this help to make our world more magical.

reply to post by mc_squared


Wow that is awesome and I bet that water is awesomely cold.

Bet it took over a week for his family jewels to come out of hiding from that "warm" water

reply to post by mc_squared


so, whos gonna be the first to run through those meadows lol,, right behind yah ^9

That's absolutely awesome! Thanks for the share
Love seeing this sort of thing

reply to post by JiggyPotamus


You made me laugh, at least.

Those ice flowers look so... beautifully alien, don't you think? I'm sure your soon-to-be girlfriend would love them!

Seriously, though. I vote our planet for a must-visit-locale designation in the next Galactic Travel Guide. I would drive a few light years to get some of those flowers for MY alien girlfriend. I'm sure there are lots of alien dudes out there who would do the same.

Originally posted by temporalchameleon
reply to post by JiggyPotamus

 

You made me laugh, at least.

Those ice flowers look so... beautifully alien, don't you think? I'm sure your soon-to-be girlfriend would love them!

Seriously, though. I vote our planet for a must-visit-locale designation in the next Galactic Travel Guide. I would drive a few light years to get some of those flowers for MY alien girlfriend. I'm sure there are lots of alien dudes out there who would do the same.

Oh dear... you sound all 'Avatarish'

nice photos though, I do agree!

You can bet there is definately bacteria on Mars!

Originally posted by TruthxIsxInxThexMist
Oh dear... you sound all 'Avatarish'

Do you mean, Avatar, the film? I've never seen it, though I'd like to someday. I hope you don't mean "avatar" as in an incarnated deity. That is NOT how I want to come off as! lol

Just having fun, mate.

Easily one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. (I absolutely love ice formations of all kinds and have always considered them to be magical in some sense.) Thanks for sharing this. It was a wonderful thing to see before bed.

Peace.

reply to post by mc_squared


Marvelous images, thanks for sharing. In such a dark, negative-ridden site as this it's good to see flashes of light and moments of good such as those natural wonders.

Awesome.
We have been living in this planet for 1000's of year and yet we don't know what it consists of.