Ice-edge band
= Ice-edge band
An ice-edge band is an elongated concentration of <ice floes> separated from neighbouring ice by open water. In one mechanism, an off-ice wind opens <polynyas>; short wind waves then exert <wave radiation stress> on their downwind floes. Wave forcing compacts floes into bands, opposed by incoming longer-period swell. Collisions and mergers can produce fewer, larger bands.