On Supercooling and Ice Formation in Turbulent Sea-water

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Omstedt, Anders
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1985
• Subjects: Earth-Surface Processes; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006596; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000006596

Abstract Laboratory data on supercooling and frazil-ice formation in sea-water are analysed using a boundary-layer model. The model is based on a turbulent channel-flow boundary-layer theory, in which buoyancy effects become important because of vertical gradients in temperature, salinity, and suspended frazil-ice crystals. The frazil-ice crystals are treated as thin uniform plates. By assuming a mean face diameter, a mean thickness, and a mean Nusselt number of 10 −3 m, 10 −4 m, and 4, respectively, the general experimental findings are well reproduced by the model.