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photo (50 ft): thin first-year fast ice; snow; ice foot (Environment Canada)
photo (50 ft): fast ice; brash in channel; ice cakes floes are detached from the fast ice; snow (Environment Canada)
Sea ice which forms and remains fast along the coast, where it is attached to the shore, to an Ice wall, to an Ice front, between shoals or grounded icebergs. Vertical fluctuations may be observed during changes of sea-level. Fast ice may be formed in situ from sea water or by freezing of Pack ice of any age to the shore, and it may extend a few metres or several hundred kilometres from the coast. Fast ice may be more than one year old and may then be prefixed with the appropriate age category (old, second-year, or multi-year). If it is thicker than about 2 m above sea-level it is called an Ice shelf.