Ice Shell Structure and Composition of Ocean Worlds: Insights from Accreted Ice on Earth

Wolfenbarger, Natalie S.; Buffo, Jacob; Soderlund, K. M.; Blankenship, D. D.

doi:10.1089/ast.2021.0044

Cited by 21 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 219 publications

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“…This is notably the bulk ice salinity obtained using the constitutive equation of Buffo et al (2020) for the freezing of terrestrial seawater in the "diffusive regime" (i.e., where ice is transitioning to being effectively impermeable), although we note they assume a seawater salinity of 34 ppt. The bulk salinity of 1.95 ppt obtained here is lower than the bulk ice salinity found for the "sub-ice-shelf congelation ice" samples studied by Wolfenbarger et al (2022), which ranged from 2.2 to 2.35 ppt. To produce a stable bulk ice salinity of 2.35 ppt using this methodology, a critical porosity of 0.06 would be required.…”

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitycontrasting

confidence: 78%

“…These data produce an estimate for an effective equilibrium solute distribution coefficient of k eq = 0.058 ± 0.001, represented by the slope of the line shown in Figure 10b. We note this is lower than the value of 0.067 derived by Wolfenbarger et al (2022). This might suggest a higher critical porosity should be assumed or that temperature where the percolation threshold is applicable should be slightly lower than the freezing temperature, even in the case of a very low temperature gradient.…”

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitycontrasting

confidence: 60%

“…They represented this fraction using an effective equilibrium solute distribution coefficient, defined as the ratio of the stable salinity of ice, derived from the salinity profiles, normalized by the salinity of the underlying ocean (k eq = S ice /S ocean ). Wolfenbarger et al (2022) noted that there was a similarity between the value they derived for the effective equilibrium solute distribution coefficient and the critical porosity for congelation sea ice. They interpreted this similarity as evidence supporting that a percolation threshold likely governed the effective equilibrium solute distribution coefficient.…”

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitymentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Although some authors argue that the existence of a percolation threshold in sea ice prevents desalination for brine volume fractions below the critical porosity (Golden et al, 1998(Golden et al, , 2007, others argue that the desalination mechanism transitions from an efficient convection-dominated process known as gravity drainage to a less efficient diffusion-dominated process (Buffo, Schmidt, et al, 2021;Buffo et al, 2020). Wolfenbarger et al (2022) examined the salinity profiles of low temperature gradient ice cores to obtain constraints on the fraction of salt entrained in ice formed through slow freezing of an ocean. They represented this fraction using an effective equilibrium solute distribution coefficient, defined as the ratio of the stable salinity of ice, derived from the salinity profiles, normalized by the salinity of the underlying ocean (k eq = S ice /S ocean ).…”

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(c) Effective equilibrium solute distribution coefficient for a range of percolation thresholds and different ocean compositions. The black dot represents the effective equilibrium distribution coefficient for a percolation threshold of ϕ c = 0.06, derived in this work from the "sub-ice-shelf congelation ice" samples studied byWolfenbarger et al (2022).…”

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Compositional Controls on the Distribution of Brine in Europa's Ice Shell

et al. 2022

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The presence of liquid water has long guided the search for life beyond Earth (Des Marais et al., 2003). Once thought to be confined to the "Goldilocks zone," vast oceans have been inferred to exist beneath the thick ice shells of moons in the outer solar system (Hand et al., 2020). Although these sub-ice oceans represent the most compelling potential habitats in the outer solar system (Shematovich, 2018), they are covered by ice shells that can range from kilometers to hundreds of kilometers thick (Soderlund et al., 2020). Impurities within the ice shell, such as salts, acids, or organic compounds, could allow for liquid water to remain stable at temperatures well below that predicted by the pressure-melting curve of pure water (Marion et al., 2003(Marion et al., , 2005Ruiz et al., 2007). These impurities support the formation of intra-ice shell brine pockets, which could represent potential habitats that might be more accessible than the sub-ice ocean (Kargel et al., 2000;Marion et al., 2003).Estimating the distribution of brine in an ice shell represents an important step in studying the habitability of ocean worlds. The brine volume fraction governs a number of bulk ice thermophysical properties, such as density, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and viscosity (Petrich & Eicken, 2017). These thermophysical properties in turn govern processes of surface-ice-ocean exchange (e.g., solid-state convection, subduction, diapirism),

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Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitycontrasting

confidence: 78%

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitycontrasting

confidence: 60%

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitymentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Constraints On the "Stable" Bulk Ice Shell Salinitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Compositional Controls on the Distribution of Brine in Europa's Ice Shell

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A Fresh Start on the Problem of the Origin of Life

2024

Origin of Life via Archaea

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Influence of Salinity on Surface Ice Adhesion Strength

Luo,

Alasvand Zarasvand,

Azimi Dijvejin

et al. 2023

Adv Materials Inter

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Ice accretion has detrimental effects on a wide range of sensitive engineering structures, especially those adjacent to or within the ocean. Here the effect of salinity on the adhesion of ice to different surfaces is investigated over a range of sub‐zero temperatures. The saline ice adhesion strength is found to decrease with the increasing salinity on all surfaces tested. The presence of thermodynamically stable brine at temperatures above −21.2 °C is found to drastically lower the saline ice adhesion strength of essentially all surfaces through a lubrication effect. At −25 °C, below the eutectic temperature between H2O ice and hydrohalite (NaCl 2H2O), high adhesion is observed. For smooth surfaces, hydrophobicity is effective at lowering the saline ice adhesion strength, and a hydrophobic silicon wafer exhibited a saline ice adhesion strength of 2.4 ± 1.8 kPa at −10 °C with 1 wt% NaCl. The adhesion of real frozen seawater differed from the NaCl solutions, where an adhesion strength ≈12 kPa is observed even at −25 °C. Given the strong adhesion of ice to marine infrastructure, the results here demonstrate how temperature, salinity, and surface characteristics must be considered when designing materials that can mitigate the icing of marine infrastructure and vessels.

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Ice Shell Structure and Composition of Ocean Worlds: Insights from Accreted Ice on Earth

Cited by 21 publications

References 219 publications

Compositional Controls on the Distribution of Brine in Europa's Ice Shell

Compositional Controls on the Distribution of Brine in Europa's Ice Shell

A Fresh Start on the Problem of the Origin of Life

Influence of Salinity on Surface Ice Adhesion Strength

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