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Start Over Collection Georgi Mikhailov Collection, undated, 1982-2005

023: This is one of the most frightening events on the Kolyma [River]: frazil ice. This is when the streams from the mountains turn into pipes of ice. Due to the frost, these pipes get thinner and thinner, which causes a blockage of these vessels, while the water pressure remains constant. An explosion then takes place, and the water pours out along the top surface, which forms a multitude... of branches which are boiling hot (+2° C) compared to the ice (-50° C), and the frost right then seizes the surface of the stream, and the water is once again in a pipe, so a driver doesn't know where that stream goes, and tractors or cars fall through the thin, newly formed layer of ice. This means destruction for the car, since it is almost impossible to rescue it until summer.

  1. University of Connecticut -Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center
  2. Georgi Mikhailov Collection, undated, 1982-2005
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