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Under pressure

Pressure ridges form when ice floes break up and are pressed back together, similar to the way that mountain ranges form when two continents bump together. These ridges are located in the Bering Sea, where scientists aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy spent 38 days studying how climate change is affecting the region’s delicately balanced ecosystem. The April 2009 expedition — led by WHOI biologist Carin Ashjian — was one of five documented on the Polar Discovery website during the historic 2007-2009 International Polar Year.

(Photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)