FIRST THINGS FIRST – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Wishing Us All A Healthy & Happy New Year!!!

OK, Let’s get down to business! The Subject Title for this Week’s Photo of the Week article is in the form of a question – Have You Ever Heard About OR Observed Anchor Ice?? I am going to make the assumption that most of you will be responding to that question with a NO & NO. Personally, I had never heard of OR seen anchor ice, until January 26, 2013 when I was at Stephens State Park near the Park Information Office while monitoring water quality of the Musconetcong River with volunteers of the River Watchers Program. The following story will describe that day’s activities and participants and will introduce you to and show you Anchor Ice!

STORY BEHIND PHOTO OF THE WEEK

We just experienced a PRETTY CHILLY Christmas Holiday with conditions cold enough to form an ice covering on the Delaware River in the Water Gap. I made a couple of trips last week to witness the ice and suddenly, ‘Out of the Blue’ I remembered about ‘Anchor Ice’”.

Now the ole mind is wondering, “Have I done an insidewarren.com article about Anchor Ice? Get home an go through my insidewarren.com files, and no anchor ice article! I have my next article! Went through my email records and found my story about this River Monitoring Day and then went through my email photo files and found the photos of that day. I should be set.

MODUS OPERANDI

My original email article dated January 26, 2013 was focused on giving credit and informing the public about two volunteer groups working under extremely cold conditions! The first was the River Watchers at Stephens State Park and the second was about the Allamuchy Township Volunteer Fire Dept and other Departments conducting an Ice Rescue Training Session on/in/under frozen Allamuchy Pond in Allamuchy Mountain State Park by Rutherfurd Hall’s grand backyard.  For this Anchor Ice article, I will cherry pick my original email article and copy and paste focusing on the Anchor Ice.

THE STORY

**Note: The following is edited, copied and pasted from my original two story email**

Hope you are all well and coping with this cold weather! Today’s activities take place in two of our beautiful State Parks and the temperature was about 16 degrees! BUT, today’s stories will not be my usual site visit and tour, instead, I want to take you behind the scenes, if you will, of volunteers in action, in action amid frigid conditions!! The first set of actions play a crucial role in maintaining pristine conditions found in our beautiful Parks and Open Space Lands, the second set of actions are a training session to prepare rescuers for ice rescue, always a dangerous and challenging operation for all involved!

Our first volunteer activity takes place at the Musconetcong River in Stephens State Park by the Info Center. The River Watcher Program is one of many volunteer programs sponsored by the Musconetcong Watershed Association.  This program is utilized to monitor the physical conditions amid the Musconetcong River’s Watershed. The ecosystems of the River are checked quarterly during each season at several different sites along the river. They are checked under strict guidelines so the information can be entered into NJ DEP’s data base ensuring high and safe water condition standards!! 

These guidelines include strict standards for the testing equipment along with on-going training and certification of the volunteers. I have mentioned this program in earlier emails, BUT, I believe it is very important to keep reminding everyone that our beautiful Parks and Open Space Lands are treasures that must be respected, monitored and maintained!

Some interesting facts about today’s info from the Stephens State Park site:

Water temperature was a little over 0 degrees centigrade (32 degrees F) but not reaching 1 degree! If you look closely at several photos the light gray areas are ice that has formed on the Riverbed below the waterline, this is known as “anchor ice”. For a more detailed account go to the MWA web site and look for River Watcher Program!  Portions of this River have been designated by the U.S. Congress as Wild and Scenic! Did you know??!! You could actually say this River is backwards. By this I mean it is one of those Rivers whose water actually gets more pristine as it flows towards its terminus, the Delaware River! For more information visit the Musconetcong Watershed Association web site, The Musconetcong River Management Council web site and last but not least Google Musconetcong River Wild & Scenic!!

You are in for an exciting visit! 

XTRA – XTRA NEW INFO I ADDED – The entire Musconetcong River, from Lake Hopatcong (headwaters) to the Delaware River (terminus) has been Nationally recognized and designated as a National Water Trail – the only such designation in New Jersey!!!

RESEARCH ONLINE FOR DEFINITIONS

ANCHOR ICE is usually formed under currents or stream flow when super-cooled pieces of FRAZIL (a collection of randomly oriented ice crystals) stick together and stick to the bottom forming a bottom layer of ice.  This is formed frequently in streams and rivers when water is supercooled but also can form in lakes.  In all cases, release of anchor ice transports a lot of sediment and can cause impairment of power generation and habitat.

FRAZIL ICE is a collection of loose, randomly oriented ice crystals millimeter and sub-millimeter in size, with various shapes of an irregular nature.  Frazil ice forms during the winter in open-water reaches of rivers as well as in lakes and reservoirs, where and when the water is in a turbulent state, which is, in turn, induced by the action of waves and currents.  Turbulence causes the water column to become supercooled, as the heat exchange between air and the water is such that the water temperature drops below its freezing point (in order of a few tenths of degrees C or less)  The vertical mixing associated with that turbulence provides enough energy to overcome the crystals buoyancy, thus keeping them from floating at the surface.  Frazil ice also forms in oceans, where windy conditions, wave regimes and cold air also favor the establishment of a supercooled layer.

Please go to my Flickr site for more photos of both incidents mentioned above – https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/albums/72157632623884535

Please remember to Thank & Support Our Volunteers!!

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran   

Director Open Space    

Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman    

Allamuchy Historical Society – President