It’s important to know that this image was taken yesterday. It’s a nearby pond that, in summer, is filled with native water lilies (Nymphaea odorata) and their floating pads. If you have good eyes, you may see a few pads still floating on its breeze-rippled water.
As of this time last year, this pond was completely “iced-in”; and, a week after that, its ice was covered with snow.
The icing-in of ponds and lakes plays a significant part in maintaining their water quality, including clarity. The delay of that phenomenon is yet another indicator of harmful climate warming.
The ice and its accumulated snow protect against continued atmospheric oxygen exchange with the water and block much of the light that penetrates it. This inhibits the growth of tiny aquatic plants (algae or phytoplankton) and animal life (zooplankton) that can adversely affect water quality if their populations get too large.
The cold lid also helps the water to “turnover” (colder water sinking, warmer rising) and cleanse itself. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on November 16, 2021, [water] and November 19 [ice] and 25, [ice and snow] 2020.)