In winter, is it possible for two distinct bodies of water, which are a few kilometers apart (so they are exposed to roughly same temperature), to have different thickness of ice? Does the area of the surface, total volume, or depth have any significant effect on the ice thickness?
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2A related question here on PSE: Before a once-warm lake starts to freeze, must its temperature be 4°C throughout at some point? – Wojciech Morawiec Jan 26 '14 at 20:57
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1Yes, it is possible if the two have different volumes of water, considering everything else to be equal, and the outside temperature is below freezing – pho Jan 27 '14 at 07:42
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The answer is yes. As an (extreme) example, consider a large lake, and a puddle of water on a sidewalk next to the lake. Once the air temperature drops below freezing, the big lake still has to lose a lot of energy to cool to freezing, and that takes time. Meanwhile, the puddle can freeze quite rapidly, since the surface area to volume ratio is quite large.
Jon Custer
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