This stunning scene could almost be mistaken for blossomfloating on a river or lake at the end of an English summer - the reality is far more breathtakingand otherworldly than that.

　　otherworldly：超脱世俗的= preternatural= transcendental

　　Hundreds of flowers drift silently across the surface of the sea, but these aren't your average petalsthey in fact elaborate ice formations in the Arctic Circle.

　　The beautiful selection of snaps were shot last year by University of Washington graduate student Jeff Bowman and his professor Jody Deming as the pair worked on a project combining oceanography, microbiology, and planetary sciences in the central Arctic Ocean.

　　Arctic Ocean：北冰洋

　　四大洋：the Pacific Ocean 太平洋；the Atlantic Ocean 大西洋；the Indian Ocean 印度洋

　　The pair focused their study on the awe-inspiring frost flowers, a strange phenomenon where frost grows from imperfectionsin the surface ice amid extreme sub-zero temperatures.

　　The flowers typically form in temperatures nearing -22C or -7.6F and their spiky structures have been known to house micro-organisms.

　　Similar to a coral reef, each flower is in essence a temporary ecosystem, with the bacteria found much denser than in the frozen water below it.

　　coral reef：珊瑚礁

　　The pair's research was part of the Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program.

　　The research offers clues as to the limits of life in extreme temperatures which will be useful when we search on other ice-covered planets and moons for possible extraterrestrial life.

　　extraterrestrial life：地外生物

　　The flowers were found to produce chemicals such as formaldehydewhich could give clues about the origin of life on Earth.

　　Although frost flower blooms are frequently observed in both polar oceans, little is understood about the physical, chemical and biological nature of the structures.

　　To investigate their microbiology，Bowman and Deming learned to grow frost flowers in a freezer lab at the University of Washington before moving their study into the field, collecting frost flowers during several challenging expeditions.

　　Bowman and Deming are building a special chamber to grow frost flowers under ultra-clean conditions.

　　【新闻快讯】大自然总是有无穷无尽令人惊艳的杰作。英国《每日邮报》12月16日刊登了一组照片，照片上，广袤的冰冻海面上漂浮着大片的白色“花朵”。然而，这不是普通意义上的花朵，而是在极端严寒的气温下形成的“霜花”。报道称，这些“霜花”就像珊瑚礁那样，每一朵其实都是一个临时的生态系统。鲍曼师生的研究将为探究极端气温下生命的极限提供一些线索，并对探索其他被冰雪覆盖的星球上可能存在的外星生命十分有用。

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（编辑：何莹莹）