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Definition:
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Predominantly circular pieces of ice from 1 to 10 ft (30 cm-3 m) in diameter and up to about 4 in (- 10 cm) in thickness, with raised rims due to the pieces striking against one another. It may be formed on a slight swell from grease ice, shuga, or slush, or as a result of the breaking of ice rind, nilas, or, under severe conditions of swell or waves, of gray ice. Sometimes pancake ice forms at some depth, at an interface between water bodies of different physical characteristics, from where it floats to the surface; it may cover wide areas of water rapidly.
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