Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

On the Conditional Frazil Ice Instability in Seawater

James R. Jordan British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Satoshi Kimura British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Paul R. Holland British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Adrian Jenkins British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Matthew D. Piggott Department of Earth Science and Engineering, and Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

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Print Publication:
01 Apr 2015
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-14-0159.1
Page(s):
1121–1138
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Abstract

It has been suggested that the presence of frazil ice can lead to a conditional instability in seawater. Any frazil forming in the water column reduces the bulk density of a parcel of frazil–seawater mixture, causing it to rise. As a result of the pressure decrease in the freezing point, this causes more frazil to form, causing the parcel to accelerate, and so on. This study uses linear stability analysis and a nonhydrostatic ocean model to study this instability. The authors find that frazil ice growth caused by the rising of supercooled water is indeed able to generate a buoyancy-driven instability. Even in a gravitationally stable water column, the frazil ice mechanism can still generate convection. The instability does not operate in the presence of strong density stratification, high thermal driving (warm water), a small initial perturbation, high background mixing, or the prevalence of large frazil ice crystals. In an unstable water column, the instability is not necessarily expressed in frazil ice at all times; an initial frazil perturbation may melt and refreeze. Given a large enough initial perturbation, this instability can allow significant ice growth. A model shows frazil ice growth in an Ice Shelf Water plume several kilometers from an ice shelf, under similar conditions to observations of frazil ice growth under sea ice. The presence of this instability could be a factor affecting the growth of sea ice near ice shelves, with implications for Antarctic Bottom Water formation.

Corresponding author address: James Jordan, British Antarctic Survey, High Cross Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom. E-mail: jamrda26@bas.ac.uk

Abstract

It has been suggested that the presence of frazil ice can lead to a conditional instability in seawater. Any frazil forming in the water column reduces the bulk density of a parcel of frazil–seawater mixture, causing it to rise. As a result of the pressure decrease in the freezing point, this causes more frazil to form, causing the parcel to accelerate, and so on. This study uses linear stability analysis and a nonhydrostatic ocean model to study this instability. The authors find that frazil ice growth caused by the rising of supercooled water is indeed able to generate a buoyancy-driven instability. Even in a gravitationally stable water column, the frazil ice mechanism can still generate convection. The instability does not operate in the presence of strong density stratification, high thermal driving (warm water), a small initial perturbation, high background mixing, or the prevalence of large frazil ice crystals. In an unstable water column, the instability is not necessarily expressed in frazil ice at all times; an initial frazil perturbation may melt and refreeze. Given a large enough initial perturbation, this instability can allow significant ice growth. A model shows frazil ice growth in an Ice Shelf Water plume several kilometers from an ice shelf, under similar conditions to observations of frazil ice growth under sea ice. The presence of this instability could be a factor affecting the growth of sea ice near ice shelves, with implications for Antarctic Bottom Water formation.

Corresponding author address: James Jordan, British Antarctic Survey, High Cross Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom. E-mail: jamrda26@bas.ac.uk
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