Ice Spikes: Your Photos

We asked you to submit your own photos of the ice spike phenomenon.

  • Photo by Linda Tarsa

  • Photo by J. Paxon Reyes

  • Photo by Virginia Walker

  • Photo by Mark Funicello

  • Photo by Karen Tuell

  • Photo by Nancy Bealmear Adams

  • Photo by Audrey Carlsen

  • Photo by Ellice Luh

  • Bob Thistle sent SciFri this and a few other pictures of ice spikes and inquired about what caused the phenomenon, inspiring us to write about it in the first place. Photo by Bob Thistle

Last week we posted about the phenomenon known as ice spikes, where water freezes and forms a stalagmite-like formation that juts into the air. While the reasons why and how these spikes occur aren’t entirely clear, they do seem to appear frequently, such as in ice cube trays in freezers.

We asked you to submit photos of ice spikes that you’ve discovered. Check out the slideshow above to see what others have found.

Meet the Writer

About Chau Tu

Chau Tu is an associate editor at Slate Plus. She was formerly Science Friday’s story producer/reporter.

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One experiment shows that this little understood phenomenon seems to perform better with distilled water.

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