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Sea ice is a complex composite composed primarily of pure ice in various states of crystallization, but including air bubbles and pockets of brine.Understanding its growth processes is important for climate modellers and remote sensing specialists, since the composition and microstructural properties of the ice affect how it reflects or absorbs sunlight.
Brine (or briny water) is a high-concentration solution of salt (typically sodium chloride or calcium chloride) in water.In diverse contexts, brine may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for brining foods) up to about 26% (a typical saturated solution, depending on temperature).
The lower the temperature, the greater the brine concentration. A January 2014 along the coast of the White Sea recorded that at an air temperature of −1 °C the brine salinity was between 30 and 35 psu while the salinity at sea was 28 psu. When the temperature was −12 °C the salinity of the brine increased to between 120 and 156 psu. [5]
A sea ice brine pocket is an area of fluid sea water with a high salt concentration trapped in sea ice as it freezes. Due to the nature of their formation, brine pockets are most commonly found in areas below −2 °C (28 °F), where it is sufficiently cold for seawater to freeze and form sea ice.
A brine pool, sometimes called an underwater lake, deepwater or brine lake, is a volume of brine collected in a seafloor depression. These pools are dense bodies of water that have a salinity that is typically three to eight times greater than the surrounding ocean. Brine pools are commonly found below polar sea ice and in the deep ocean.
Brine mining is the extraction of useful materials (chemical elements or compounds) which are naturally dissolved in brine. The brine may be seawater , other surface water , groundwater , or hyper-saline solutions from several industries (e.g., textile industries). [ 1 ]
The brine that drains from the newly-formed ice is replaced by a weak flow of relatively fresh water from the liquid region below it. The new water partially freezes within the pores of the ice, increasing the solidity of the ice. As sea ice ages and thickens, the initial salinity of the ice decreases due to the rejection of brine over time. [1]
[1] Generally, the operational definition is that the solids must be small enough to survive filtration through a filter with 2-micrometer (nominal size, or smaller) pores. Total dissolved solids are normally discussed only for freshwater systems, as salinity includes some of the ions constituting the definition of TDS.