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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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2660b62bbcca401e83b097a598024238 2023-05-15T14:51:38+02:00 Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice A. K. Peterson 2018-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 https://doaj.org/article/2660b62bbcca401e83b097a598024238 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://www.ocean-sci.net/14/127/2018/os-14-127-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-14-127-2018 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/2660b62bbcca401e83b097a598024238 Ocean Science, Vol 14, Pp 127-138 (2018) Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 2022-12-30T20:46:53Z 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 <q>new Arctic</q>. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Sea ice Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Svalbard Ocean Science 14 1 127 138 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 A. K. Peterson Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice |
topic_facet |
Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
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 <q>new Arctic</q>. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. K. Peterson |
author_facet |
A. K. Peterson |
author_sort |
A. K. Peterson |
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 |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018 https://doaj.org/article/2660b62bbcca401e83b097a598024238 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Sea ice Svalbard |
op_source |
Ocean Science, Vol 14, Pp 127-138 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://www.ocean-sci.net/14/127/2018/os-14-127-2018.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0784 https://doaj.org/toc/1812-0792 doi:10.5194/os-14-127-2018 1812-0784 1812-0792 https://doaj.org/article/2660b62bbcca401e83b097a598024238 |
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 |
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1766322761114845184 |