"Ice blink"

[Paul_Lee]

Hi,
I'm presuming that there is a lot of experience on the board with the phenomenon known as "ice blink". I read that it's caused by light reflecting
off ice and onto low clouds, but is there a condition where this occurs at night and without clouds?

Thanks!

Paul
--
http://www.paullee.com

[gdynia]

I always understood it had to be low clouds

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I've only seen it with low cloud.

However, when you are closing the pack from leeward (which is what I would always recommend!)) you will certainly run into the smooth and you will probably hear it - ice is very noisy at the edge in my experience

[chadburn]

You will also feel the temperature drop, it use to be known as "sniffing" a handy skill which ex- Whaler D.O's had off to a tee. Handy in the dark without the use of the RADAR

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Yes, I should have mentioned that.

Besides the air temperature, the sea temperature is very reliable, but it used to mean somebody dipping a bucket...not an issue if you were weather reporting.