Frontal progression of a juxtaposed ice cover on the Elbe river

The passage of ice pans and the process of forming an ice cover on the Elbe river during winter 1996/1997 is described. The assumption of advecting ice pans, which assemble to a solid juxtaposed ice cover, yields a quantitative expression for the speed of the frontal progression of the ice front upriver. Observations along the Elbe river in the winter 1996/1997 over a distance of nearly 250 km, show that the progression speed indicates a consolidation by a factor of 1.27 when ice floes collide into and extend the ice front up-stream. Even in cases where nothing is known about the compaction the presented expression can be used as an upper limit for the progression of an ice front.