Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice
In sea ice, interconnected pockets and channels of brine are surrounded by fresh ice. Over time, brine is lost by gravity drainage and flushing. The timing of salt release and its interaction with the underlying water can impact subsequent sea ice melt. Turbulence measurements 1 m below melting sea...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:os58481 2023-05-15T14:50:54+02:00 Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice Peterson, Algot K. 2019-01-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 https://os.copernicus.org/articles/14/127/2018/ eng eng doi:10.5194/os-14-127-2018 https://os.copernicus.org/articles/14/127/2018/ eISSN: 1812-0792 Text 2019 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 2020-07-20T16:23:25Z In sea ice, interconnected pockets and channels of brine are surrounded by fresh ice. Over time, brine is lost by gravity drainage and flushing. The timing of salt release and its interaction with the underlying water can impact subsequent sea ice melt. Turbulence measurements 1 m below melting sea ice north of Svalbard reveal anticorrelated heat and salt fluxes. From the observations, 131 salty plumes descending from the warm sea ice are identified, confirming previous observations from a Svalbard fjord. The plumes are likely triggered by oceanic heat through bottom melt. Calculated over a composite plume, oceanic heat and salt fluxes during the plumes account for 6 and 9 % of the total fluxes, respectively, while only lasting in total 0.5 % of the time. The observed salt flux accumulates to 7.6 kg m −2 , indicating nearly full desalination of the ice. Bulk salinity reduction between two nearby ice cores agrees with accumulated salt fluxes to within a factor of 2. The increasing fraction of younger, more saline ice in the Arctic suggests an increase in desalination processes with the transition to the “new Arctic”. Text Arctic Sea ice Svalbard Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Svalbard Ocean Science 14 1 127 138 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
In sea ice, interconnected pockets and channels of brine are surrounded by fresh ice. Over time, brine is lost by gravity drainage and flushing. The timing of salt release and its interaction with the underlying water can impact subsequent sea ice melt. Turbulence measurements 1 m below melting sea ice north of Svalbard reveal anticorrelated heat and salt fluxes. From the observations, 131 salty plumes descending from the warm sea ice are identified, confirming previous observations from a Svalbard fjord. The plumes are likely triggered by oceanic heat through bottom melt. Calculated over a composite plume, oceanic heat and salt fluxes during the plumes account for 6 and 9 % of the total fluxes, respectively, while only lasting in total 0.5 % of the time. The observed salt flux accumulates to 7.6 kg m −2 , indicating nearly full desalination of the ice. Bulk salinity reduction between two nearby ice cores agrees with accumulated salt fluxes to within a factor of 2. The increasing fraction of younger, more saline ice in the Arctic suggests an increase in desalination processes with the transition to the “new Arctic”. |
format |
Text |
author |
Peterson, Algot K. |
spellingShingle |
Peterson, Algot K. Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
author_facet |
Peterson, Algot K. |
author_sort |
Peterson, Algot K. |
title |
Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
title_short |
Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
title_full |
Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
title_sort |
observations of brine plumes below melting arctic sea ice |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 https://os.copernicus.org/articles/14/127/2018/ |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard |
op_source |
eISSN: 1812-0792 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/os-14-127-2018 https://os.copernicus.org/articles/14/127/2018/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 |
container_title |
Ocean Science |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
127 |
op_container_end_page |
138 |
_version_ |
1766321957775605760 |