Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth
The formation of sea ice in polar regions is possible because a salinity gradient or halocline keeps the water column stable despite intense cooling. Here, we demonstrate that a unique water property is central to the maintenance of the polar halocline, namely, that the thermal expansion coefficient...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 |
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craaas:10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 2024-09-15T18:34:28+00:00 Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth Roquet, Fabien Ferreira, David Caneill, Romain Schlesinger, Daniel Madec, Gurvan 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 en eng American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science Advances volume 8, issue 46 ISSN 2375-2548 journal-article 2022 craaas https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 2024-07-25T04:01:02Z The formation of sea ice in polar regions is possible because a salinity gradient or halocline keeps the water column stable despite intense cooling. Here, we demonstrate that a unique water property is central to the maintenance of the polar halocline, namely, that the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of seawater increases by one order of magnitude between polar and tropical regions. Using a fully coupled climate model, it is shown that, even with excess precipitations, sea ice would not form at all if the near-freezing temperature TEC was not well below its ocean average value. The leading order dependence of the TEC on temperature is essential to the coexistence of the mid/low-latitude thermally stratified and the high-latitude sea ice–covered oceans that characterize our planet. A key implication is that nonlinearities of water properties have a first-order impact on the global climate of Earth and possibly exoplanets. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Science Advances 8 46 |
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AAAS Resource Center (American Association for the Advancement of Science) |
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English |
description |
The formation of sea ice in polar regions is possible because a salinity gradient or halocline keeps the water column stable despite intense cooling. Here, we demonstrate that a unique water property is central to the maintenance of the polar halocline, namely, that the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of seawater increases by one order of magnitude between polar and tropical regions. Using a fully coupled climate model, it is shown that, even with excess precipitations, sea ice would not form at all if the near-freezing temperature TEC was not well below its ocean average value. The leading order dependence of the TEC on temperature is essential to the coexistence of the mid/low-latitude thermally stratified and the high-latitude sea ice–covered oceans that characterize our planet. A key implication is that nonlinearities of water properties have a first-order impact on the global climate of Earth and possibly exoplanets. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Roquet, Fabien Ferreira, David Caneill, Romain Schlesinger, Daniel Madec, Gurvan |
spellingShingle |
Roquet, Fabien Ferreira, David Caneill, Romain Schlesinger, Daniel Madec, Gurvan Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth |
author_facet |
Roquet, Fabien Ferreira, David Caneill, Romain Schlesinger, Daniel Madec, Gurvan |
author_sort |
Roquet, Fabien |
title |
Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth |
title_short |
Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth |
title_full |
Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth |
title_fullStr |
Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on Earth |
title_sort |
unique thermal expansion properties of water key to the formation of sea ice on earth |
publisher |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 |
genre |
Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Sea ice |
op_source |
Science Advances volume 8, issue 46 ISSN 2375-2548 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abq0793 |
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Science Advances |
container_volume |
8 |
container_issue |
46 |
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1810476349256630272 |