### p120 > To the seasoned polar explorer, the sky could be as informative as it was to the astronomer, but not for the same reasons. In fact, it helped if it was overcast. It then became a canvas on which an image of the sea was projected by reflection, like an inverted map. In addition to iceblinks, dark blots called “water skies” indicated the presence of open water beneath. [...] > The vision was known as a Fata Morgana, caused when a layer of uniformly cold air rests beneath a warmer layer, bending and distorting the light from distant objects. ### p131 > Aside from the crunch of their own footsteps, they heard only the strains of the ice itself. “It emits cries resembling human moans,” Lecointe wrote. “This is the voice of young ice forming, the child saying its first words.” ### p153 > A reprieve from the wind could cause the ice to relax and old fissures to suddenly open up again. Conversely, wind that blew from any direction for a sustained amount of time compressed the pack, pushing floes together with such force that barricades of rubble ice shot up along their seams. These pressure ridges rose so quickly and violently they seemed alive, and the sounds caused by the grinding of ice on ice—from deep, ominous moans to high-pitched squeals—only confirmed that impression. A ridge could within hours reach two stories high—a vast wall of ice springing into existence from nothing but the movement of air.