Modeling the morphogenesis of brine channels in sea ice

TL;DR

This paper presents a phenomenological model for brine channel formation in sea ice, linking phase transition theory and morphogenesis, and successfully predicts channel sizes consistent with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model combining Ginzburg-Landau theory and Turing morphogenesis to explain brine channel formation in sea ice.

Findings

Model predicts channel sizes matching experimental data.

Critical parameters determine structure size.

Transition rates align with observed values.

Abstract

Brine channels are formed in sea ice under certain constraints and represent a habitat of different microorganisms. The complex system depends on a number of various quantities as salinity, density, pH-value or temperature. Each quantity governs the process of brine channel formation. There exists a strong link between bulk salinity and the presence of brine drainage channels in growing ice with respect to both the horizontal and vertical planes. We develop a suitable phenomenological model for the formation of brine channels both referring to the Ginzburg-Landau-theory of phase transitions as well as to the chemical basis of morphogenesis according to Turing. It is possible to conclude from the critical wavenumber on the size of the structure and the critical parameters. The theoretically deduced transition rates have the same magnitude as the experimental values. The model creates channels of similar size as observed experimentally. An extension of the model towards channels with different sizes is possible. The microstructure of ice determines the albedo feedback and plays therefore an important role for large-scale global circulation models (GCMs).