Pancake ice normally forms in rough seas around the Arctic and Antarctic, but can form in some lakes and rivers.
Tiny needle like crystals called frazil crystals rise to the surface and accumulate together.
In calm water these typically form a greasy film that freezes into a flat surface ice.
However, in rough or choppy water, these crystals congeal together into slushy circular disks.
As these disks bump into each other and are buffeted by the water, they develop ridges and raised edges, giving them a distinctive dinner plate appearance.
In the polar seas these can sometime have a thickness of up to 3.9 inches and diameter of between 12 inches to nine feet.
Eventually the plates fuse together to form consolidated sea ice that can have ridges that are up to 60 feet thick.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2879346/Ice-pancakes-floating-Scottish-river-Bizarre-formations-occur-frozen-crystals-collect-circular-disks.html#ixzz3OogZcHFE
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