Think about a seashore strewn with heaps Of huge glowing jewels that look as if An monumental had thrown them away after a heist.
It Seems like a mystical scene from some Sort of fantasy film, however these gems are pure chunks of phenomenally clear ice that seem Inside the depths of winter washed up aprolongedside Otsu Beach in southeast Hokkaido, In all probability the most northerly primary island in Japan.
These extraordinary lumps of ice seem solely Inside the deep chilly of winter, from mid-January to late February, when temperatures can drop to minus 20C. On this bitter chilly the close by Tokachi River freezes and lumps of ice Break away with the tides and drift out from the mouth of the river into the adjoining Pacific sea.
Waves make the blocks of ice grind in the direction of Every completely different, sculpting and sprucing them into what Appear to be unbelievable gems, which then get washed up on Otsu Beach Shut to the mouth of the river.
The lovely transparency of ice Inside the Tokachi River comes from the purity of the water, Which incorporates Little or no salt, And in addition as a Outcome of it takes the ice A very Very prolonged time to freeze, permitting impurities and air bubbles to rise to the floor and escape, Which might completely differentwise cloud the ice.
So as to add to its completely different-worldly extreme quality, The colour of the jewelry ice glows By way of the day Since the sunshine modifications: amber, orange, gold or purple at daybreak and sundown, typically blue By way of the day, and even sapphire in moonlight.
The ice at Otsu Beach has a parallel in unusual chunks of ice washed up in southeast Iceland. Breioamerkursandur has been referpurple to as the Diamond Beach for its lovely shards of clear ice that lie washed up and glistening on black volcanic sand.
The ice comes from An in depth-by glacier that sheds chunks of ice Proper into a lagoon that progressively drifting out to sea and wash up on the shore. This will look particularly surreal when the ice glows inexperienced, pink or purple at Evening time beneath the aurora borealis.