pack ice

noun
1.
a large area of floating ice formed over a period of many years and consisting of pieces of ice driven together by wind, current, etc.
Also called ice pack.
Origin
1840-50
Examples from the web for pack ice
  • Narwhals live in the cracks of dense pack ice for much of the year.
  • Swift and stealthy, adult leopard seals tend to be solitary creatures, hunting alone at the fringes of pack ice.
  • The pack ice has been blown away from the fast ice edge.
  • One example of this is the hooded seal, which breeds on pack ice.
  • It includes the effects of bottom topography, and a simplified model of polar pack ice.
British Dictionary definitions for pack ice

pack ice

noun
1.
a large area of floating ice, usually occurring in polar seas, consisting of separate pieces that have become massed together Also called ice pack
pack ice in Science
pack ice
  (pāk)   
The floating sea-ice cover of the polar regions. Driven by winds and ocean currents, pack ice is a mixture of ice fragments of varying size and age that are squeezed together and cover the sea surface with little or no open water. At maximum expansion during the winter, pack ice covers about five percent of Arctic waters and about eight percent of Antarctic waters.