Pancakes of ice form when slush or Nila ice congeals into larger cakes on the surface of the water. When these cakes crash into each other, pieces of ice get stuck to other pieces, and the cakes grow larger. This form of ice is sometimes rather dangerous to ships, because of the size this ice can attain. If pancake ice rips apart or is torn for any reason, in large quantities, it can become brash ice, or broken ice, in the water. Ice takes on forms past this young ice stage.
Ice can exist in floes, or very large flat pieces of ice.
Ice floes have the ability to travel and to remain still, which makes them an interesting adversary to boats. Ice can also exist in the form of icebergs, or large chunks of ice in the water. Icebergs are not pieces of frozen ocean. They are huge pieces of glaciers, that have melted and fallen into the water. To be an iceberg, a piece of ice must measure 5 meters above the surface of the water.