![]() ![]() Speaking of extraordinary conditions, Starfish Prime's Niagara falls example demonstrates, several really good points about this process that I think deserves a little bit of extra attention. The second one would probably not freeze except under extraordinary conditions. In the examples below, the first waterfall has a lot more shelves and narrow areas to bridge making it easier to freeze. In short, yes but it is much harder if your waterfall is not shaped right or if it is moving too fast. however, if you have a multi-stepped waterfall, you may get a much larger ice-face from ice bridges forming at multiple points in your decent. The longest icicles in recorded history were ~27 feet long so, that is probably about the limit of how high an ice waterfall can be. A slower starting water flow is also better because if the water is flowing too quickly with too much volume, then it will melt the ice faster than the cold air can build it up.Īs the icicles grow they will also become heavier increasing their odds of breaking and falling off under their own weight, ideally the temperature will continue to slowly drop as the icicles form strengthening the ice at the top so it does not snap will allowing enough water to keep flowing to continue to build the ice up. The slower your water freezes the better because once the river freezes through you will eventually stop having flowing water to continue to build the ice up. Once you have a solid icebridge over flowing water, you get icicles that slowly form. Otherwise your river will have more time to freeze depriving you of the needed flow before you can start building your actual icy waterfall. If you have a wider river, you will want many rocky outcroppings at the waterfall's edge so that you have several shorter ice bridges instead of one longer one. This makes narrower waterfalls more ideal. A wider, faster moving waterfall is harder to freeze because you must first freeze the entire top edge of the waterfall in a fashion that creates an ice bridge to build on. Waterfalls do not just suddenly freeze in place, instead the surface of the river freezes creating a surface for the liquid water underneath to cling to as it flows under it and itself subsequently freezes. The real important factors are the dimensions of your river, how slowly it freezes, how fast the water is moving, and how far your drop is. How far below zero it needs to be is not the most important factor here A frozen surface on a plunge pool under a non- or partially-frozen waterfall is probably not a good place to walk over, for example. Note that it is possible for rivers and lakes to freeze without being traversable, though you'd hope that people who lived near such places and used them as means of transport would understand these things. At river-freezing temperatures you may find that the snowpack is sufficient for sledging over pretty much anywhere, though rivers do have the advantage of being nice and flat and so make for good roads. If it is big enough and frozen enough, sure. If everything is frozen, is it possible to use the river like a highway for sleds You can always melt ice and snow over a fire. Wells will still work too, as the freezing line won't penetrate too far into the ground unless you're actually in the arctic permafrost. It may also be possible to get food from lakes and rivers too, via ice fishing. In big rivers and lakes, you'll get water under the ice. If everything is frozen, were are they going get water? they don't just spontaneously materialise as huge spikes of ice, but form as liquid water runs down small icy areas and freezes itself. Quite possibly, but remember that liquid water flowing over the icefall can then itself freeze. If the waterfall is frozen, must the river been frozen too? ![]() Have a read up about ice climbing, which often involves frozen waterfalls. Conversely, a more substantial waterfall like Niagara Falls remained partially liquid even at -17° Celsius. This waterfall (Kinder downfall) froze during a period of slightly-below-freezing weather, after a slightly-more-freezing night (only about -6° Celsius or so) but it doesn't deliver a huge volume of water and it melted in the sunlight later that day. Depending on the size of the river and the brightness of daytime sunshine, it might have to be a long way below freezing. The colder it is, the faster the water will freeze. How cold does it have to be to freeze the waterfall? ![]()
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