Brine convection, temperature fluctuations, and permeability in winter Antarctic land-fast sea ice

Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (2017)

Vertical temperature strings can be used to study heat flow, ice growth rate, and ocean‐ice‐atmosphere interaction.

We demonstrate the feasibility of using temperature fluctuations as a proxy for fluid movement – a key process for supplying nutrients to Antarctic sea ice algal communities. Four strings were deployed in growing, land‐fast sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. By smoothing temperature data with the robust LOESS method, we obtain temperature fluctuations that cannot be explained by insolation or atmospheric heat loss.

Statistical distributions of these temperature fluctuations are investigated with sensitivities to the distance from the ice‐ocean interface, average ice temperature, and sea ice structure.