News > How water, wind, and chance sculpted an icy work of art

How water, wind, and chance sculpted an icy work of art

In summer, tiny Lake Šobec is a playground. When winter descends on the Alpine landscape, however, the small lake becomes a canvas. Dozens of lake stars, their distinctive, fractal arms stretching out as if to touch each other, form across Lake Šobec’s surface. Lake stars can form because water beneath that thin layer of almost-clear ice is a degree or two warmer than the ice itself.