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Sea ice is a composite material made up of pure ice, liquid brine, air, and salt. The volumetric fractions of these components—ice, brine, and air—determine the key physical properties of sea ice, including thermal conductivity, heat capacity, latent heat, density, elastic modulus, and mechanical strength. [16]
Antarctic sea ice. Antarctic sea ice is the sea ice of the Southern Ocean. It extends from the far north in the winter and retreats to almost the coastline every summer. [1] Sea ice is frozen seawater that is usually less than a few meters thick. This is the opposite of ice shelves, which are formed by glaciers; they float in the sea, and are ...
Sea Ice in the Arctic Ocean fluctuates with the seasons. Sea ice extent is the area of sea with a specified amount of ice, usually 15%. To satellite microwave sensors, surface melt appears to be open water rather than water on top of sea ice.
Arctic Sea ice maximum is the day of a year when Arctic sea ice reaches its largest extent near the end of the Arctic cold season, normally during March. Typical data visualizations for Arctic sea ice include average monthly measurements or graphs for the annual minimum or maximum extent, as shown in the adjacent images.
The Arctic sea ice covers less area in the summer than in the winter. The multi-year (i.e. perennial) sea ice covers nearly all of the central deep basins. The Arctic sea ice and its related biota are unique, and the year-round persistence of the ice has allowed the development of ice endemic species, meaning species not found anywhere else.
The cryosphere is an umbrella term for those portions of Earth 's surface where water is in solid form. This includes sea ice, ice on lakes or rivers, snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost ). Thus, there is a overlap with the hydrosphere.
A polynya ( / pəˈlɪnjə /) is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. [1] It is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice. It is a loanword from the Russian полынья ( Russian pronunciation: [pəɫɨˈnʲja] ), which refers to a natural ice hole and was ...
Ice that is found at sea may be in the form of drift ice floating in the water, fast ice fixed to a shoreline or anchor ice if attached to the seafloor. [45] Ice which calves (breaks off) from an ice shelf or a coastal glacier may become an iceberg. [ 46 ]