Winter Permafrost Ice Wedges Mist Shore

Late afternoon light falls through bare branches, creating dappled patches across a steep permafrost cliff face along the Murmansk shoreline. Thick mist hangs low, softening the distant horizon where the wave-cut bank meets the frozen sea. Vertical, jagged stripes of translucent blue-white ice wedge layers embed within the dark, frozen earth. Wind has scoured the surface, leaving the ice sharp and the soil rough with compacted snow and gravel. The mist obscures the water line while a thin layer of frost coats the lower ledge. A jagged edge of exposed ice rests against crumbling sediment at the cliff base.