The first time I heard it I was out on the frozen sea between Finland and Sweden, it's a common and popular winter activity if you live on the coast.
There was no snow cover on the ice and heard these bangs and sounds traveling through it, like thick metal cables snapping. It's hard to describe, it's almost like the ice singing. It was eerie and scary It still is.
I was walking by the river the other evening and heard the ice making different sounds. It had been raining for a few days so the snow was gone, making the ice shift and move.
If the ice is snow covered the sounds are very muffled if even audible. Snow is a great insulator and nature is full of wonders.
I actually found a video on it
..being on a frozen lake that crackes & splinters out from weight on it is scary..life threatening if too far out
..posting this just for visuals:
..being on a frozen lake that crackes & splinters out from weight on it is scary..life threatening if too far out
Yes you need to know your ice. These waters are littered with little islands and it's fairly shallow waters, the ice is around a half meter thick within the archipelago. But you'll find open waters just a bit south in our own county.
There it is
https://twitter.com/konstructivizm/status/1636801432639635480?t=RqXpx8jtz3oyHNectHdZPg&s=19