Sunday Word: Iceblink

[sallymn]

iceblink [ahys-blingk]

noun:
a bright reflection of sunlight, esp. in polar regions, on the bottom of a low cloud, caused by ice on a distant expanse of water or land

Examples:

"When other means of reconnaissance are not available, travelers in the polar seas can use water sky and iceblink to get a rough idea of ice conditions at a distance," according to the US Government National Snow and Ice Data Center. (Lauren Cahn, 20 Majestic Photos of the Real-Life North Pole, Reader's Digest, August 2021)

At II pm the fog lifted a little and they saw to the west the reflection of the land ice and of the land projected on the sky in two strata, the 'iceblink,' all white, and the 'land-blink,' a yellowish white; then the fog veil became still thinner, and very elevated land appeared in the distance (Adrien de Gerlache, 'The North-East Coast of Greenland, beyond 77 Degrees N. Lat.', Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol 38, No 12 (1906), pp.721-729)

              These hours of brightness polishing snowfield so she learns
              iceblink binocular as I slowly can adjust burns
              retina to control perceptions until sight discerns
              under and over glare
                     (Collin Sims quoted in Robert Macfarlane, Hen Harrier Poems by Colin Simms review - a remarkable tribute to an endangered bird, The Guardian, August 2015)

(Ice Islands with ice blink, watercolour by Georg Forster, made 1773; click to enlarge)

Origin:

ice + blink, translation of Dutch ijsblink or Danish isblink (Collins Dictionary)

1765–75; ice + blink; compare Dutch ijsblink Dictionary.com)