Looking
at “grease ice” in the
Arctic
What
evidence is there for or against ice nucleation?
This is yet another attempt to make sense of the polar ice and nucleation.
Dane Wigington actually provides very little in the way of direct evidence
"Sea
surface chemical ice nucleation creates extremely anomalous patterns
that resemble a chemical spill dispersion (because that is exactly
what these patterns are). The recent NASA satellite images below
(taken in the polar regions) provide shocking proof of these sea
surface patterns."
We are very unlikely to actually catch planes spraying the Arctic region so until that happens Ice nucleation remains a working hypothesis that goes a long way to explaining the strange anomalies we are observing, including seeing us "dodging the bullet" every year when it looks as if we might be headed for a blue sea event.
The whole thing is that we are seeing the creation of ice in conditions that seem to be too warm for the creation of ice, especially in water (both in the cases of Greenland and Novaya Zemlya) that are too warm for sea ice to fall.
First, I wanted to look at the concept of "grease ice" as a possible explanation.This is from Wikpedia:
Grease ice is a very thin, soupy layer of frazil crystals clumped together, which makes the ocean surface resemble an oil slick. Grease ice is the second stage in the formation of solid sea ice after ice floes and then frazil ice.
New sea ice formation takes place throughout the winter in the Arctic. The first ice that forms in a polynya are loose ice crystals called frazil ice. If the level of turbulence is sufficient, the frazil ice will be mixed down into the upper layer and form a surface layer of grease ice.
The term ‘grease ice’ follows World Meteorological Organization nomenclature. Grease ice differs from ‘slush’, where slush is similarly created by snow falling into the top layer of an ocean basin, river, or lake. The two terms are related due to the process of ice crystals being blown into a polynya which can be the initiation of the grease ice layer, given a minimum level of mixing and cooling of the ocean surface.
Formation
When the water surface begins to lose heat rapidly, the water becomes supercooled. Turbulence, caused by strong winds or flow from a river, will mix the supercooled water throughout its entire depth. The supercooled water will already be encouraging the formation of small ice crystals (frazil ice) and the crystals will be mixed into the upper layer and form a surface layer.
Sea ice growth in turbulent water differs from sea ice growth in calm water. In turbulent water, the ice crystals accumulate at the surface, forming a grease-ice layer composed of individual ice crystals and small irregular clumps of ice crystals. In calm water conditions, nilas, a thick elastic crust, forms at the surface, which thickens as water molecules freeze to the ice-water interface.
ReferencesEdit
Parkinson, Claire L.; Comiso, Josefino C.; Zwally, H. Jay; Cavalieri, Donald J.; Gloersen, Per; Campbell, William J. (1987), Arctic Sea Ice, 1973-1976: Satellite Passive-Microwave Observations, Washington, DC: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Branch, p. 3, OCLC 14586790
Smedsrud, Lars H.; Skogseth, Ragnheid (2006), Field Measurements of Arctic Grease Ice Properties and Processes, Cold Regions Science and Technology 44, pp. 171–183
The above reads more like a description than an explanation, and certainly this statement, "When
the water surface begins to lose heat rapidly, the water becomes
supercooled" could apply just as much to ice nucleation as to any natural phenomenon.
So this doesn't really prove or disprove anything.
So, we are back to sea surface temperature.
We know that -
The
amount of salt in sea water also determines the temperature at which
sea water freezes. Adding salt to water lowers the freezing
temperature. Water with a salinity of 17‰ freezes at about 30°F
(-1°C) and 35‰ water freezes at about about 28.5°F (-2°C). Yet,
despite the saltiness of the ocean, sea ice contains very little
salt, about a tenth of the amount of salt that sea water has. This is
because ice will not incorporate sea salt into its crystal structure.
Therefore, sea ice is actually drinkable.
Changes in the Arctic mean that warm, salty water has moved into the polar region meaning that salinity levels are at about 35 per cent.
So ice in the region should only form at -2 degrees Celsius (or lower than that seeing we are talking about ocean water, not water in a glass)
I will look at two regions where we see exactly the conditions Dane Wigington is talking about identified by Margo in her video from yesterday.
There are areas of "grease ice"or ice nucleation off the coast of Greenland and of Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea.
GREENLAND
This is a shot taken off the coast of Greenland, north of Iceland
This overlay on NASA Worldview is used to identify sea surface temperature.
This indicates a temperature on the green area as 264 degrees Kelvin (-9 degrees C)
The alternative measurement is with Earth Nullschool which shows a temperature of -1.2 degrees Celsius.
NOVAYA ZEMLYA
This photo shows another strange phenomenon of "tentacles" coming off the ice.
NASA Worldvew shows a sea surface temeperature of 223 degrees Kelvin whih I say does not compute as it translates into -50 degrees Celsius, which does not make any sense, given that we are looking at open water where the temperature was measured.
Earth Nullschool shows a temperature of approximately -0.7 degrees Celsius.
I would day, given that we are looking at sea surface temperature in open water as opposed to ice that this may be the more realistic figure
If so, it is too warm for ice to form.
In view of any significant countervailing evidence I will stick to the hypothesis that ice is being created in the Arctic to hide the true state of affairs.
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