arXiv · 1406.5031
Formation of brine channels in sea-ice
Abstract
Liquid salty micro-channels (brine) between growing ice platelets in sea ice are an important habitat for $CO_2$ - binding microalgaea with great impact on polar ecosystems. The structure formation of ice platelets is microscopically described and a phase field model is developed. The pattern formation during solidification of the two-dimensional interstitial liquid is considered by two coupled order parameters, the tetrahedricity as structure of ice and the salinity. The coupling and time-evolution of these order parameters are described by a consistent set of three model parameters. They determine the velocity of the freezing process and the structure formation, the phase diagram, the super-cooling and super-heating region, and the specific heat. The model is used to calculate the short-time frozen micro-structures. The obtained morphological structure is compared with the vertical brine pore space obtained from Xray computed tomography.
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K. Morawetz, S. Thoms, B. Kutschan. 2014-06-19. Formation of brine channels in sea-ice. https://doi.org/10.1140/epje%2Fi2017-11512-x
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