You must have seen many types of ice formations forming from land to water. But if you step into very high-altitude glaciers such as the Andes mountains, rising to an elevation above 13,000 ft, then you will get to see a unique formation of snow or ice there, commonly referred to as Penitentes. In fact, a community of members of a religious order in Spain wears a special type of clothes, with a pointed hat of conical form. The Penitente of ice looks like these members' uniforms, so they are named on this basis.
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This hardened ice or snow takes the form of elongated thin blades, which points towards the general direction of the sun. Penitentes are thick at the base and thin at the tip. They are formed in clusters and are closely spaced from one another. They can range from a few centimeters to six feet, but Penitentes up to 15 feet in height have also been recorded. Whereas scientists believe that about 50 feet high Penitentes are suggested to be present in the tropics zone on Jupiter's moon " Europa".
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But now the question is how and for what reasons this peculiar formation of ice takes place. Earlier it was believed that these strange shapes are formed by the flow of air, but later researchers and scientists discovered that our sun is responsible for this. Due to the heat of the Sun, some parts of the entire ice field melt and turn into small holes. The heat from the Sun's radiation then hits the inside of these ice holes and deepens them, causing them to melt and giving them such a shape.
In other words, Penitentes are formed when directly from a certain angle, the sun's rays transform the ice (solid phase) into water vapor (gas phase) without passing through any intermediate liquid phase, forming many sharp ice spikes. This phenomenon is generally seen in high-altitude regions. This process is called sublimation and the impurities present in the snow also play an important role in the occurrence of this natural phenomenon. But there is still mystery and difference of opinion among scientists regarding this. Now, because they are made by melting from the sun's rays, they are slightly inclined towards the sun, just like sunflowers.
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Furthermore, scientists are currently doing more research on their melting, so that by better understanding the process of melting of glaciers, humanity can be saved by stopping the rapidly rising sea levels on earth.
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