ICE-FREE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ice-free mean? 

• ICE-FREE (adjective)
  The adjective ICE-FREE has 1 sense:

1. free of ice and open to travel

  Familiarity information: ICE-FREE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ICE-FREE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Free of ice and open to travel

Context example:

an ice-free channel in the river

Similar:

unfrozen (not frozen)

 Context examples 

The Dry Valleys, by contrast, are ice-free, mountainous regions, interspersed with glaciers, where little snow accumulates because they are scoured by winds.

(Soot transported from elsewhere in world contributes little to melting of some Antarctic glaciers, National Science Foundation)

Remote lakes in a perpetually ice-free area of Antarctica show not only the chemical signature of ancient wildfires, but also some much more recent evidence of fossil-fuel combustion.

(Antarctic lakes are a repository for ancient soot, NSF)

The result: Ancient seawater was enriched with about 4 parts per thousand more of a heavy Isotope of oxygen than an ice-free ocean of today.

(Scientists determine early Earth was a ‘water world’ by studying exposed ocean crust, National Science Foundation)

If worldwide greenhouse gas emissions remain on their current trajectory, Greenland may be ice-free by the year 3000.

(New research shows an iceless Greenland may be in the future, National Science Foundation)

A polynya that appeared in 2016 and 2017 offered a unique opportunity for oceanographers to monitor this expanse of ice-free water.

(Data from robotic drifters explain mysterious holes in Antarctic sea ice, National Science Foundation)

Grasslands make up more than 40% of the world's ice-free land and can hold up to 30% of the world's carbon, making them critical allies in the fight against climate change.

(Environmental change is triggering an identity switch in grasslands, National Science Foundation)

The McMurdo Dry Valleys are the largest ice-free region of Antarctica and are considered a polar desert environment due to their low humidity and scarce precipitation.

(Extreme melt season leads to decade-long ecosystem changes in Antarctica's Dry Valleys, National Science Foundation)

Using a novel, helicopter-borne sensor to penetrate the surface of large swathes of terrain, a team of researchers has gathered compelling evidence that beneath Antarctica's ice-free McMurdo Dry Valleys lies a salty aquifer that may support previously unknown microbial ecosystems and retain evidence of ancient climate change.

(Discovered deep under Antarctic surface: Extensive, salty aquifer and potentially vast microbial habitat, NSF)