If you were wondering if the sea could freeze then this view of Silver Beach off Cape Cod should answer that question handily. The breath-taking scene is that of a sea, at least a good chunk of it near the beach, that has frozen over and appears to be quite solid. Sea water can freeze, but it does so at a lower temperature than fresh water, freezing up at around 28.4 degrees F. That’s beyond cold for some of us, and just enough for sea water to start freezing solid. The salt in the water doesn’t stop it from freezing, but the part that does freeze is all liquid, and can actually be collected and used for drinking water. The myth that running water never freezes solid is just that, a myth. You can see in the clip how the horizon is still liquid, but it goes a way out, leaving a frozen wasteland for hundreds of yards if not a little more owing to the uncertainty of the distance being shown by the camera.
You normally don’t see ocean water freezing unless you’re in certain parts of the world where the temperatures can drop suddenly. In a lot of the world ocean water never goes much under 38 degrees. To see that it is possible however is kind of frightening in a way since it gives at least some credence to the disaster movies that continue to show such images. One thing that is easy to counter that with however is the fact that for the entire ocean to freeze would mean that a monumental and catastrophic climate change had occurred and disrupted the ecosystem in such a way that the forces that run the world could no longer maintain their delicate balance. If such a shift occurred however films like The Day After Tomorrow would be proven at least partially right and a great deal of the world would suffer since the world is after all composed of mainly water, which means that if the oceans were to freeze over the effect wouldn’t end there, and those on land would soon enough feel the effects.
It’s disconcerting to see something like this but not so horrifying as of yet since things do tend to happen from time to time that make people worry, but that’s life. If we were to panic at every sight that we don’t understand in this world then it’s likely that humanity would have burrowed themselves far below the earth by now and we’d be existing in tunnels and caves, perhaps never seeing the light again except in our memories. That would be a depressing life.
So yes the ocean froze over for what looks like hundreds of yards, perhaps even close to a half mile or a mile out, but as strange as it looks all that needs to happen is for the weather to warm up and things will go back to normal. Admittedly some parts of the US are having a particularly nasty winter, but it’s not the first time, and it likely won’t be the last.
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