polynya

plural polynyas · plural rare polynyi · alternative polyna · alternative polynia

1. geographyA naturally formed transient area of open water surrounded by sea ice, especially in polar or subpolar seas.First known use mid 19th c.

   Below the glacier, within the polynya, two rivers flow, a river of salt and a river of earth.

   2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherlands, Penguin, published 2023, page 237

   5 more examples

   We immediately ascended a hill, and saw that the supposed land was nothing but hummocks of ice, piled up beyond a large Polynia, or space of open water, which extended from east to west, as far as the eye could reach.

   1844, Ferdinand von Wrangell, chapter V, in Edward Sabine, editor, Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea […], 2nd edition, London: James Madden and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 102–103

   Hoping to reach the starting-place in the early season of navigation, he intends to follow his course of travel nearly upon a meridional line, which would, it is believed, lead him to the Polynya—a mare liberum, or such, comparatively speaking—within its formidable borderings of the thick-ribbed ice.

   1853 June, “The Polar Seas and Sir John Franklin”, in Putnam's Magazine, volume I, number VI, New York, N.Y.: GP Putnam & Co. […]; London: Sampson Low, Son & Co., →OCLC, page 635, column 2

   Dr. [Ian] Stirling pointed out that colonies of nesting sea-birds were an indicator of permanent polynias and that the productivity studies in such polynias might prove interesting.

   1980, “Summary of the Meeting”, in Polar Bears […], Gland, Switzerland: International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, →ISBN, paragraph 9, page 23

   Polynas play an important role in heat transfer from the oceans to the atmosphere, ice production, the formation of dense shelf water, spring disintegration of sea ice, phytoplankton and zooplankton production, and the distribution of higher trophic animals such as cephalopods, fish, birds, seals, and cetaceans.

   2006, George A. Knox, “The Southern Ocean”, in Biology of the Southern Ocean (Marine Biology Series), 2nd edition, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, section 1.6, page 11, column 1

   Researchers now plan to compare their routes with satellite images and see whether the owls stayed around the polynas, where snowy owls have been seen, picking off eiders swimming in the open water.

   2008 June 20, Jane George, “‘We’ve had the biggest surprises and more questions are coming out.’: The secret life of snowy owls”, in Nunatsiaq News, archived from the original on 29 Dec 2018

   Synonyms: glade