Blue ice in Michigan has created a buzz among photographers and nature lovers near the state's Mackinac Bridge, which connects the state's two peninsulas.
The large blocks of rare blue ice, which forms because the lake ice where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet has no bubbles, has piled up around the bridge in the Strait of Mackinac, People magazine reported.
George Leshkevich, a field scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, told the Detroit Free Press that because there are no bubbles, short wavelength light penetrates and scatters in the water below and reflects back through the ice.
"In deep, mid-lake water, where chlorophyll content is low, the reflection of the water can make the ice look even bluer," Leshkevich told the newspaper.
Each year, the ice draws a wave of photographers to the area to capture it, the Free Press wrote.
"The blue ice is incredible, when it shows up, it's like these mountains of ice just appear on the shores out of nowhere," Tori Burley, a photographer from Mackinaw City, Michigan, told the newspaper. "They're huge, I haven't seen a photo that truly does them justice on just how giant they are.
"The lower light gives the ice the best blue glow and makes it pop a lot more in photos," Burley continued.
Another photographer, Jeff Caverly, from Essexville, Michigan, told the Free Press that he saw the blue ice for the first time two years ago while traveling with his brother to Tahquamenon Falls.
"We grabbed our cameras and took a hike out on the ice to explore," he said. "The ice had piled up and there were great views everywhere."
Dustin Dilworth, a photographer who lives in Gaylord, Michigan, told Fox News he traveled to Mackinaw City Monday to see the rare blue ice.
"In the Straits of Mackinac, these ice stacks can be as high as a three-story building," he said. "The ice appears so blue because it's compressed so tightly that all air has been 'squeezed' out of the ice, preventing the passage of light, absorbing the red end of the light spectrum. This allows only the blue hue to reach our eye."
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