The environmental damage from oil and gas spills in navigable waters is well known. As explorations have expanded into the polar regions, more and more oil and gas spills are happening in waters with large amounts of floating ice. This floating ice makes current oil spill containment methods very difficult. Even if oil on the water surface is contained, there is no easy way to deal with all of the oil contaminated ice pieces. The lack of a way to deal with contaminated ice has hampered oil and gas production in many polar areas, as the drilling sites are near many critical habitats.
The foregoing example of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.