Amery Ice Shelf Loose Tooth Monitoring 2005-2006

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Late one evening we stepped outside and were very surprised to see sunlight streaming in a thick column from behind the hills.  This phenomenon is called a sun or solar pillar, and it happens when ice crystals in the atmosphere form in the shape of flat hexagons.  The hexagons fall slowly, fluttering like falling leaves and reflecting sunlight in the shape of a pillar.