Ice, the Ocean and Pack Ice

Presented By: Colin Bursey and Carla Penney

What is ice and how does it form?
 Sea ice forms where seawater cools below its
initial freezing point (which is typically around
-2°C)

 The cooling water continues to sink away from

the surface until ice begins to form

 As ice forms, a majority of the dissolved salts are

excluded from the ice and remain in the unfrozen
water (thus, the salinity increases in the unfrozen
water – which decreases its freezing point)
 Different Types of Sea Ice
 Grease Ice
◦ Grease ice is formed when frazil ice (tiny, needle-like ice particles) on the
surface of the water is stirred by wind and waves

 Pancake Ice
◦ Pancake ice is formed when newly formed ice is broken apart by waves and
wind and smashed against each other

 Ice Floes
◦ Pancake ice fuse together to form ice sheets when are then broken apart by
waves and wind to form ice floes. Ice floes constantly move and shift, freeze
together and break loose, buckle up or flatten out as ice moves

 Pack Ice
◦ Pack is generally formed when ice floes expand and begin to “raft” onto one
another to cover the sea’s surface
Ice and the Ocean
 The North and South Poles (polar ocean zones) are
covered with ice and their ocean surface temperature
remain at or close to freezing year round because of the
heat-buffering effect of ice (ice is not a good conductor!)

 The polar ocean zones, subpolar zones and particularly

the Arctic Ocean have relatively low salinity
◦ Salinity is lowered by ice exclusion during the continual freeze-
and-thaw cycle that creates sea ice

 When sea ice melts in the spring and summer, the non-
salty water that is released from the ice mixes with the
upper layer of the ocean, lowering its salinity
Pack Ice
 Characteristics
◦ Forms at sea and moves with currents and winds

◦ This movement of ice causes them to fuse together

forming mounds called hummocks or pressure
ridges

◦ Can be up to ~2m thick during winter in polar

latitudes
 Distribution
◦ Pack ice forms around the margin of the Arctic Sea

◦ It extends through the Bering Strait and into the sea

on the Pacific side and as far south as
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (in the North
Atlantic)

◦ Reaches its maximum extent during May and

breaks to cover its least area in September

◦ The polar ice cap is composed of multi-year pack

ice
 Transportation
◦ Pack ice is generally transported by wind but also
can be carried by surface currents
The Effects of Pack Ice
 The main effect of pack ice on the Earth is the
deposit of boulders on coastlines to form
“barricades”

 These barricades are formed when boulder-

laden ice rafts are grounded during ice break-
up in the spring

 Often times these boulder “barricades” can be

seen in a linear fashion or randomly deposited
 Pack ice found in the polar regions can have
an effect on the Earth’s climate

 Additionally, it can have an effect on the

Earth’s atmosphere by influencing the
atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide
(pCO2)
References
 Gross M. G. & Gross E (1996) Oceanography: A View of the Earth (7th ed.), Prentice
Hall: USA

 Pinet, P.R. (2009) Invitation to Oceanography (5th ed.) Jones and Bartlett: Sudbury,
MA.

 Segar, D. A. (2007) Introduction to Ocean Science (2nd ed.) W. W. Norton &

Company: New York, NY.

 Sun, X., and K. Matsumoto (2010), Effects of sea ice on atmospheric pCO2: A
revised view and implications for glacial and future climates, J. Geophys. Res.,
115, G02015, doi:10.1029/2009JG001023.

 Rosen, P. S. (1979), Boulder Barricades in Central Labrador, Journal of Sedimentary

Petrology., 49(4), 1113-1124

 Thruman, H.V. (1997) Introductory Oceanography (8th) Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle
River, NJ.