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BUBBLES TRAPPED IN ALASKA ICE ARE A MESMERIZING, TERRIFYING WARNING

This photographer's art reveals worrisome signs of climate change.

Since 2010, Ryota Kajita has photographed patterns that occur both underneath
and atop the layers of ice over Alaska’s rivers, lakes, swamps, and ponds.

ByPatricia Edmonds
Photographs byRyota Kaji Kajita
Published February 4, 2020
• 3 min read
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This story appears in the March 2020 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Year after year, as autumn in Alaska is ending, Ryota Kajita goes looking for
winter’s first ice. A Japanese-born photographer living in Fairbanks, Kajita
believes that “everything—even if it appears to be insignificant—connects to
larger aspects of our Earth.” An example, he says, is the ice, after it has
frozen over ponds and lakes but before it’s been obscured by snow.

Kajita has been shooting photos through the ice since 2010 for his project, Ice
Formations. He’s captivated by the geometric patterns he sees: fizzy fields of
bubbles under the frozen surface, and snow and ice crystals dusted across it.
Many photos are compositions of trapped, frozen bubbles of methane and carbon
dioxide.

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Kajita described the science behind the images in his project, Ice Formations,
for the digital gallery <i>Life-Framer.com</i>: “Many of the formations are
frozen bubbles of gases such as methane and carbon dioxide trapped under ice.
When water freezes, it turns into ice slowly from the surface and traps the
gases,” creating unique geometric patterns. Frost and snow crystals on the ice
add another dimension.
Kajita described the science behind the images in his project, Ice Formations,
for the digital gallery Life-Framer.com: “Many of the formations are frozen
bubbles of gases such as methane and carbon dioxide trapped under ice. When
water freezes, it turns into ice slowly...Show moreShow more

The under-ice formations he has photographed range from 10 to 30 inches in
diameter, Kajita says. Though he likes how they look, he’s concerned about what
they signify. “Because methane gas is considered one of the fundamental causes
of greenhouse effects,” he explain...Read MoreRead More
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Though Kajita loves to photograph the formations, their existence worries him.
As Earth’s northern regions warm, the thawing of permafrost accelerates. That
releases more methane, a harmful greenhouse gas.



Kajita hopes people who see the photos will “feel connected to nature”—and that
connection will help them “face bigger issues, like global climate change.”

“The window of time to find ice patterns is brief,” says Kajita, “because all
surfaces on the ground will be covered once snow falls.”
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