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Abraham Lake Ice Bubbles

Introducing the bubble ice at Abraham Lake in Canada.  Abraham Lake is a lake that is more famous among photographers than the general public.  This is to capture ice bubbles, a rare phenomenon, on camera.

Abraham Lake is an artificial lake on the Saskatchewan River in western Alberta, Canada.

The bubbles trapped in the ice are not air, but methane. Bacteria from vegetation decaying at the bottom of the lake are responsible for this, as they emit methane when they decompose, creating bubbles in the water.

When the temperature drops through winter, the bubbles then become trapped in the ice, suspended just below the surface of the water.

The methane bubbles then rise to the surface, where they form larger bubbles and freeze in the freezing lake. As the lake continues to freeze, vertical stacks of ice bubbles form, frozen in time.

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