Alaska Science Forum

February 17, 1986

Arctic Mythology
Article #756

by Terry McFadden

This article is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Terry McFadden in an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alaska

Most places have their local lore--colloquial knowledge that is commonly believed by all who have lived in the region for any period of time. Some of these bits of lore are founded on time-proven experience, and can be very important to the well-being of the residents. For example, very early in my childhood in Montana I learned that you never play with a black and white striped kitten that you find in the woods.

Alaska and the Arctic have their share of such folklore, much of which is also founded on good practice. However, there are some widely believed bits of supposedly sage advice that are better classified as the fictions that they are, and quietly deleted from our lives. The following statements are often-accepted items of "Arctic know-how." Some are true, some are not. Do you know which are which?

True or False:

Question Answer

You should take care not to exert yourself to the huff and puff stage when it is bitter cold outside, because you might fatally frost your lungs.

False. The blood supply to the lungs is so well developed that it is virtually impossible to draw in enough cold air to cause any freezing damage to the lungs. Physiologists at the former Arctic Health Research Center and the Army Medical Research Laboratory determined that +he irritation of the cold air on the bronchial passages limits the body's ability to overexert in very cold weather, making it impossible to damage one's lungs by freezing.

You can walk on feet that are frozen solid for many days, but if they thaw, you are immediately a "stretcher case." Therefore if you do freeze your feet to the rock-hard stage while in some outdoor activity, you should leave them frozen until you can get to the hospital.

True. If you are unfortunate enough to frostbite your feet to the stage that they are frozen hard, then you need medical care for thawing and healing of the severely damaged tissue in order to avoid amputation. If you must still travel to get to help or safety, then leaving the feet frozen will result in little further damage, but thawing makes the frozen parts extremely vulnerable to further damage. Therefore it is best to leave the frozen parts frozen while getting to medical care.

Glacier ice melts more slowly than manufactured or lake ice.

True. Because of the enormous weight of a glacier, its ice is compacted to a greater density than ice in a freezer or on a lake. Since glacier ice is more dense, it has a greater mass and requires more heat to melt than an equal volume of normal ice. This means that a cube of glacier ice will cool your martini longer than will regular ice. This was the basis for a recent fad on the east coast, where an entrepreneur was importing glacier ice from Greenland to sell to bars and night clubs. (see correction below)

To warm frostbitten hands and feet, you should rub them with snow.

False. Frostbite requires careful gentle care and warmth to save the damaged tissues, not further abuse. It makes no sense whatsoever to subject them to the sadistic ritual of trying to freeze them further while scraping the skin with abrasive particles of snow.

You should never go to sleep if caught out of doors overnight in the winter because you will never wake up. You must keep traveling.

False. A person who keeps on moving exhausts his internal reserves and ultimately collapses from hypothermia. The better course of action, if you are faced with an unplanned overnight outdoors in the winter is to make a camp, construct a shelter out of snow, tree boughs or whatever is available, make some tea or soup (even hot water is better than nothing) and spend the night conserving your bodily reserves by sleeping or at least resting. It won't necessarily be your most pleasant evening, but your chances of survival are far greater than if you try to keep moving.

Even in arctic winter conditions, a snow house may become so warm from the body heat of its occupants that it must be ventilated to keep it from melting.

True. The insulating quality of packed snow is very good. Unfortunately, if the temperature of this insulation rises above freezing the structure will self-destruct. An individual sitting quietly generates approximately 100 watts of heat energy, so it is not only possible, but likely that the inside of the snow shelter will achieve a temperature above 32°F. When this happens, the interior of the structure begins to drip, alerting the occupants that it is time to increase the ventilation rate by opening the vent in the roof that every good snow shelter builder has thoughtfully installed.

Whiskey is good prevention for frostbite.

False. Quite to the contrary, a bottle of whiskey or other alcoholic beverage that has been out in the cold as long as you have may be well below 32°F, and yet still liquid. Drinking such a cold liquid could very likely cause serious freezing damage to the tissues of the mouth and esophagus. Not only that, alcohol has the effect of enlarging the blood vessels in the extremities. While this may temporarily benefit the tissues in these areas, it does so at the expense of overall heat loss from the core of the body. This increases the chance of hypothermia, which could be fatal.

Correction to ASF 756 by Larry Gedney

Glacier Ice Not Actually Denser:

Several readers called in to point out an apparent error in last week's column by Terry McFadden. This was the statement that glacier ice was denser than ordinary ice because it had been subjected to intense pressure during its formation. Therefore, glacier ice has found favor among bartenders who import it to serve in their cocktails.

Both Dennis Trabant and Carl Benson make the point that ice does not enter into a denser crystalline structure at pressures less than about 2000 atmospheres, and that even the deepest ice in the Greenland ice sheet is under only about 200 atmospheres of pressure.

There is a reason why glacier ice is a favored novelty in cocktail lounges, and it does have to do with the ice being formed under pressure. The reason, however, is not that it takes longer to melt, but that entrapped air bubbles are highly compressed. As the ice melts down to free the bubbles, glacial ice will snap, crackle and pop as the air escapes, creating an entertaining happy-hour diversion.

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True or False:
Question	Answer
You should take care not to exert yourself to the huff and puff stage when it is bitter cold outside, because you might fatally frost your lungs.	False. The blood supply to the lungs is so well developed that it is virtually impossible to draw in enough cold air to cause any freezing damage to the lungs. Physiologists at the former Arctic Health Research Center and the Army Medical Research Laboratory determined that +he irritation of the cold air on the bronchial passages limits the body's ability to overexert in very cold weather, making it impossible to damage one's lungs by freezing.
You can walk on feet that are frozen solid for many days, but if they thaw, you are immediately a "stretcher case." Therefore if you do freeze your feet to the rock-hard stage while in some outdoor activity, you should leave them frozen until you can get to the hospital.	True. If you are unfortunate enough to frostbite your feet to the stage that they are frozen hard, then you need medical care for thawing and healing of the severely damaged tissue in order to avoid amputation. If you must still travel to get to help or safety, then leaving the feet frozen will result in little further damage, but thawing makes the frozen parts extremely vulnerable to further damage. Therefore it is best to leave the frozen parts frozen while getting to medical care.
Glacier ice melts more slowly than manufactured or lake ice.	True. Because of the enormous weight of a glacier, its ice is compacted to a greater density than ice in a freezer or on a lake. Since glacier ice is more dense, it has a greater mass and requires more heat to melt than an equal volume of normal ice. This means that a cube of glacier ice will cool your martini longer than will regular ice. This was the basis for a recent fad on the east coast, where an entrepreneur was importing glacier ice from Greenland to sell to bars and night clubs. (see correction below)
To warm frostbitten hands and feet, you should rub them with snow.	False. Frostbite requires careful gentle care and warmth to save the damaged tissues, not further abuse. It makes no sense whatsoever to subject them to the sadistic ritual of trying to freeze them further while scraping the skin with abrasive particles of snow.
You should never go to sleep if caught out of doors overnight in the winter because you will never wake up. You must keep traveling.	False. A person who keeps on moving exhausts his internal reserves and ultimately collapses from hypothermia. The better course of action, if you are faced with an unplanned overnight outdoors in the winter is to make a camp, construct a shelter out of snow, tree boughs or whatever is available, make some tea or soup (even hot water is better than nothing) and spend the night conserving your bodily reserves by sleeping or at least resting. It won't necessarily be your most pleasant evening, but your chances of survival are far greater than if you try to keep moving.
Even in arctic winter conditions, a snow house may become so warm from the body heat of its occupants that it must be ventilated to keep it from melting.	True. The insulating quality of packed snow is very good. Unfortunately, if the temperature of this insulation rises above freezing the structure will self-destruct. An individual sitting quietly generates approximately 100 watts of heat energy, so it is not only possible, but likely that the inside of the snow shelter will achieve a temperature above 32°F. When this happens, the interior of the structure begins to drip, alerting the occupants that it is time to increase the ventilation rate by opening the vent in the roof that every good snow shelter builder has thoughtfully installed.
Whiskey is good prevention for frostbite.	False. Quite to the contrary, a bottle of whiskey or other alcoholic beverage that has been out in the cold as long as you have may be well below 32°F, and yet still liquid. Drinking such a cold liquid could very likely cause serious freezing damage to the tissues of the mouth and esophagus. Not only that, alcohol has the effect of enlarging the blood vessels in the extremities. While this may temporarily benefit the tissues in these areas, it does so at the expense of overall heat loss from the core of the body. This increases the chance of hypothermia, which could be fatal.