Some characteristics of sea ice in the antarctic in comparison with the arctic
E. I. Lutsenko & L. A. Timokhov
Fast ice is generally less developed in the Antarctic than in the Arctic because of the steeper shores and lesser dissection of the Antarctic coast. Polynyas in the Antarctic are shown by space imagery to occur mainly off the west shore of ice shelves or land cusps extending far into the sea. Satellite photography also shows that ice conditions around Antarctica are associated with atmospheric circulation patterns, with light ice prevailing during a zonal pattern and heavy ice during a meridional pattern. In some regions of the Antarctic, fluctuations in the amount of ice are found to be cyclic, with the same period as in Arctic seas.