Can
the ocean freeze? YES! And in one example it does so in an odd way. This
strange formation of a "brinicle"
is a result of a spiraling cone of ice built around freezing particles of salt
water. A BBC crew filming Frozen Planet has captured the first ever
footage of a brinicle forming. Brinicles can sprout when calm salt water
becomes colder than the surrounding sea and begins to drift toward the ocean
floor. They form because of the temperature difference between the cold, arctic
air (-20 degrees celsius) and the relatively warm ocean water (-1.9 degrees
celsius). When water flows up towards the surface it freezes and precipitates
salt which increases the salinity of the water just below the newly formed ice.
When the salt becomes concentrated it sinks due to its density creating brine
channels. As this cold brine sinks, it freezes the relatively freshwater
surrounding the plume forming very fragile tubes of ice which grow to form what
we know as a brinicle. The brinicle instantly freezes the water around it,
creating a tornado-looking structure that can spread across the sand below to
engulf nearby marine animals, killing them or at least locking them in an
annoying state of suspended animation.
