Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice

Peterson, Algot K.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018

Articles | Volume 14, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/os-14-127-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 1

Research article

|

21 Feb 2018

Research article |

| 21 Feb 2018

Observations of brine plumes below melting Arctic sea ice

Algot K. Peterson

Data sets

N-ICE2015 ocean turbulent fluxes from under-ice turbulent cluster Peterson, A. K., Fer, I., Randelhoff, A., Meyer, A., Håvik, L., Smedsrud, L. H., Onarheim, I. H., Muijlwick, M., Sundfjord, A., and M. G. McPhee https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2016.ab29f1e2

N-ICE2015 ocean microstructure profiles (MSS90L) Meyer, A., Fer, I., Sundfjord, A., Peterson, A. K., Smedsrud, L. H., Muijlwick, M., Randelhoff, A., Håvik, L., Koenig, Z., Onarheim, I. H., Davies, P., Miguet, J., and N. Kusse-Tiuz https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2016.774bf6ab

N-ICE2015 ice core physics: temperature, salinity and density Gerland, S., Granskog, M. A., King, J., and A. Rösel https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2017.c3db82e3

N-ICE2015 surface meteorology Hudson, S. R., Cohen, L., and V. Walden https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2015.056a61d1

N-ICE2015 ice thickness from hot wires A. Rösel, M. Bratrein, J. A. King, P. Itkin, D. Divine, Å Ervik, J.-C. Gallet, A. Gierisch, J. Haapala, A. Oikkonen, G. E. Liston, M. Nicolaus, C. M. Polashenski, G. Spreen, S. Gerland, M. A. Granskog, and D. K. Perovich https://doi.org/10.21334/npolar.2016.263a317f

Short summary

This study presents observations of brine descending from melting Arctic sea ice. The brine passed an under-ice turbulence instrument in plumes and was associated with very high heat fluxes. The salt flux indicates that the melting sea ice lost most of its salt content during the observations. The observations provide evidence of a desalination process not previously reported from drifting Arctic sea ice and is an important contribution to understanding ice–ocean interaction during melt.