Sample records for abundant water ice

  1. Nonlinear Spectral Mixture Modeling to Estimate Water-Ice Abundance of Martian Regolith

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gyalay, Szilard; Chu, Kathryn; Zeev Noe Dobrea, Eldar

    2017-10-01

    We present a novel technique to estimate the abundance of water-ice in the Martian permafrost using Phoenix Surface Stereo Imager multispectral data. In previous work, Cull et al. (2010) estimated the abundance of water-ice in trenches dug by the Mars Phoenix lander by modeling the spectra of the icy regolith using the radiative transfer methods described in Hapke (2008) with optical constants for Mauna Kea palagonite (Clancy et al., 1995) as a substitute for unknown Martian regolith optical constants. Our technique, which uses the radiative transfer methods described in Shkuratov et al. (1999), seeks to eliminate the uncertainty that stems from not knowing the composition of the Martian regolith by using observations of the Martian soil before and after the water-ice has sublimated away. We use observations of the desiccated regolith sample to estimate its complex index of refraction from its spectrum. This removes any a priori assumptions of Martian regolith composition, limiting our free parameters to the estimated real index of refraction of the dry regolith at one specific wavelength, ice grain size, and regolith porosity. We can then model mixtures of regolith and water-ice, fitting to the original icy spectrum to estimate the ice abundance. To constrain the uncertainties in this technique, we performed laboratory measurements of the spectra of known mixtures of water-ice and dry soils as well as those of soils after desiccation with controlled viewing geometries. Finally, we applied the technique to Phoenix Surface Stereo Imager observations and estimated water-ice abundances consistent with pore-fill in the near-surface ice. This abundance is consistent with atmospheric diffusion, which has implications to our understanding of the history of water-ice on Mars and the role of the regolith at high latitudes as a reservoir of atmospheric H2O.

  2. High Abundance of Ions in Cosmic Ices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gudipati, Murthy S.; Allamandola, Louis J.; Fonda, Mark (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    Water-rich, mixed molecular ices and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are common throughout interstellar molecular clouds and the Solar System. Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) irradiation and particle bombardment of these abiotic ices produces complex organic species, including important biogenic molecules such as amino acids and functionalized PAHs which may have played a role in the origin of life. This ability of such water-rich, oxygen dominated ices to promote production of complex organic species is surprising and points to an important, unusual, but previously overlooked mechanism at play within the ice. Here we report the nature of this mechanism using electronic spectroscopy. VUV-irradiation of PAH/H2O ices leads to an unprecedented and efficient (greater than 70 %) conversion of the neutral PAHs to their cation form (PAH+). Further, these H2O/PAH+ ices are stabile at temperatures below 50 K, a temperature domain common throughout interstellar clouds and the Solar System. Between 50 and 125 K they react to form the complex organics. In view of this, we conclude that charged PAHs and other molecular ions should be common and abundant in many cosmic ices. The chemical, spectroscopic and physical properties of these ion-rich ices can be of fundamental importance for objects as diverse as comets, planets, and molecular clouds and may account for several poorly understood phenomena associated with each of these object classes.

  3. Limits on the Abundance and Burial Depth of Lunar Polar Ice

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Elphic, Richard C.; Paige, David A.; Siegler, Matthew A.; Vasavada, Ashwin R.; Teodoro, Luis A.; Eke, Vincent R.

    2012-01-01

    The Diviner imaging radiometer experiment aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed that surface temperatures in parts of the lunar polar regions are among the lowest in the solar system. Moreover, modeling of these Diviner data using realistic thermal conductivity profiles for lunar regolith and topography-based illumination has been done, with surprising results. Large expanses of circum-polar terrain appear to have near-subsurface temperatures well below 110K, despite receiving episodic low-angle solar illumination [Paige et al., 2010]. These subsurface cold traps could provide areally extensive reservoirs of volatiles. Here we examine the limits to abundance and burial depth of putative volatiles, based on the signature they would create for orbital thermal and epithermal neutrons. Epithermals alone are not sufficient to break the abundance-depth ambiguity, while thermal neutrons provide an independent constraint on the problem. The subsurface cold traps are so large that even modest abundances, well below that inferred from LCROSS observations, would produce readily detectable signatures in the Lunar Prospector neutron spectrometer data [Colaprete et al., 2010]. Specifically, we forward-model the thermal and epithermal neutron leakage flux that would be observed for various ice concentrations, given the depth at which ice stability begins. The LCROSS results point to a water-equivalent hydrogen abundance (WEH) in excess of 10 wt%, when all hydrogenous species are added together (except for H2, detected by LAMP on LRO [Gladstone et al., 2010]). When such an ice abundance is placed in a layer below the stability depth of Paige et al., the epithermal and thermal neutron leakage fluxes are vastly reduced and very much at odds with orbital observations. So clearly an environment that is conducive to cold trapping is necessary but not sufficient for the presence of volatiles such as water. We present the limits on the abundances that are indeed consistent

  4. Spectral modeling of water ice-rich areas on Ceres' surface from Dawn-VIR data analysis: abundance and grain size retrieval

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raponi, Andrea; De Sanctis, Maria Cristina; Ciarniello, Mauro; Tosi, Federico; Combe, Jean-Philippe; Frigeri, Alessandro; Zambon, Francesca; Ammannito, Eleonora; Giacomo Carrozzo, Filippo; Magni, Gianfranco; Capria, Maria Teresa; Formisano, Michelangelo; Longobardo, Andrea; Palomba, Ernesto; Pieters, Carle; Russell, Christopher T.; Raymond, Carol; Dawn/VIR Team

    2016-10-01

    Dawn spacecraft orbits around Ceres since early 2015 acquiring a huge amount of data at different spatial resolutions during the several phases of the mission. VIR, the visible and InfraRed spectrometer onboard Dawn [1] allowed to detect the principal mineralogical phases present on Ceres: a large abundance of dark component, NH4-phillosilicates and carbonates.Water has been detected in small areas on Ceres' surface by the Dawn-VIR instrument. The most obvious finding is located in Oxo crater [2]. Further detections of water have been made during the Survey observation phase (1.1 km/pixel) and High-Altitude Mapping Orbit (400 m/px) [3]. During the LAMO phase (Low Altitude Mapping Orbit), the data with increased spatial resolution (100 m/px) coming from both regions have improved the detection of water, highlighting clear diagnostic water ice absorption features. In this study, we focused on spectral modeling of VIR spectra of Oxo and another crater (lon = 227°, lat 57°), near Messor crater.The Hapke radiative transfer model [4] has been applied in order to retrieve the water ice properties. We consider two types of mixtures: areal and intimate mixing. In areal mixing, the surface is modelled as patches of pure water ice, with each photon scattered within one patch. In intimate mixing, the particles of water ice are in contact with particles of the dark terrain, and both are involved in the scattering of a single photon. The best fit with the measured spectra has been derived with the areal mixture. The water ice abundance obtained is up to 15-20% within the field of view, and the grain size retrieved is of the order of 100-200 μm. Phyllosilicates and carbonates, which are ubiquitous on Ceres surface [5], have been also detected and modeled in correspondence with the icy regions. The water ice is typically located near and within the shadows projected by the crater rims. Further analysis is required to study the thermal state of the ice and its origin

  5. Estimating Water Ice Abundance from Short-Wave Infrared Spectra of Drill Cuttings at Cryogenic Temperatures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Roush, Ted L.; Colaprete, Anthony; Kleinhenz, Julie; Cook, Amanda

    2017-01-01

    NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) mission intends to visit a lunar polar region to characterize the volatile distribution. Part of the RP payload, the Near-infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) is a spectrometer operating from 1600-3400 nm that provides sensitivity to water ice, and other volatiles. For multiple years, the NIRVSS system has been incorporated into on-going RP payload testing in a cryogenic vacuum facility at Glenn Research Center. Soil tubes of lunar simulants, prepared with known amounts of water, are placed in the vacuum chamber and cooled to cryogenic temperatures (soil temperatures of 110-170 K) and placed under low vacuum (a few x 10(exp -6) Torr). During these tests NIRVSS continuously measures spectra of soil cuttings emplaced onto the surface by a drill. Real time processing of NIRVSS spectra produces two spectral parameters associated with water ice absorption features near 2000 and 3000 nm that can be used to inform decision making activities such as delivery of the soil to a sealable container. Post-test collection and analyses of the soils permit characterization the water content as a function of depth. These water content profiles exhibit the characteristics of a vacuum desiccation zone to depths of about 40 cm. Subsequent to completion of the tests, NIRVSS spectra are processed to produce two spectral parameters associated with water ice absorption features near 2000 and 3000 nm. These features can be evaluated as a function of time, and correlated with drill depth, and other measurements, throughout the drilling activities. Until now no effort was attempted to quantitatively relate these parameters to water abundance. This is the focus of our efforts to be presented.

  6. Estimating Water Ice Abundance from Short-wave Infrared Spectra of Drill Cuttings at Cryogenic Temperatures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roush, T. L.; Colaprete, A.; Kleinhenz, J.; Cook, A.

    2017-12-01

    NASA's Resource Prospector (RP) mission intends to visit a lunar polar region to characterize the volatile distribution. Part of the RP payload, the Near-infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS) is a spectrometer operating from 1600-3400 nm that provides sensitivity to water ice, and other volatiles. For multiple years, the NIRVSS system has been incorporated into on-going RP payload testing in a cryogenic vacuum facility at Glenn Research Center. Soil tubes of lunar simulants, prepared with known amounts of water, are placed in the vacuum chamber and cooled to cryogenic temperatures (soil temperatures of 110-170° K) and placed under low vacuum (a few x 10-6 Torr). During these tests NIRVSS continuously measures spectra of soil cuttings emplaced onto the surface by a drill. Real time processing of NIRVSS spectra produces two spectral parameters associated with water ice absorption features near 2000 and 3000 nm that can be used to inform decision-making activities such as delivery of the soil to a sealable container. Post-test collection and analyses of the soils permit characterization the water content as a function of depth. These water content profiles exhibit the characteristics of a vacuum desiccation zone to depths of about 40 cm. Subsequent to completion of the tests, NIRVSS spectra are processed to produce two spectral parameters associated with water ice absorption features near 2000 and 3000 nm. These features can be evaluated as a function of time, and correlated with drill depth, and other measurements, throughout the drilling activities. Until now no effort was attempted to quantitatively relate these parameters to water abundance. This is the focus of our efforts to be presented.

  7. Water Ice Abundance on Ceres

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2016-12-15

    This frame from an animation shows dwarf planet Ceres overlaid with the concentration of hydrogen determined from data acquired by the gamma ray and neutron detector GRaND instrument aboard NASA Dawn spacecraft. The hydrogen is in the upper yard (or meter) of regolith, the loose surface material on Ceres. The color scale gives hydrogen content in water-equivalent units, which assumes all of the hydrogen is in the form of H2O. Blue indicates where hydrogen content is higher, near the poles, while red indicates lower content at lower latitudes. In reality, some of the hydrogen is in the form of water ice, while a portion of the hydrogen is in the form of hydrated minerals (such as OH, in serpentine group minerals). The color information is superimposed on shaded relief map for context. A second animation (Figure 2) compares the hydrogen content of Ceres' regolith with that of the giant asteroid Vesta, which Dawn orbited from 2011 to 2012. These data show Vesta is a much drier world, with a much lower percent of hydrogen in its regolith. Both maps were produced from data acquired by GRaND. Videos are available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21081

  8. Sensitivity of Cirrus Properties to Ice Nuclei Abundance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jensen, Eric

    2014-01-01

    The relative importance of heterogeneous and homogeneous ice nucleation for cirrus formation remains an active area of debate in the cloud physics community. From a theoretical perspective, a number of modeling studies have investigated the sensitivity of ice number concentration to the nucleation mechanism and the abundance of ice nuclei. However, these studies typically only addressed ice concentration immediately after ice nucleation. Recent modeling work has shown that the high ice concentrations produced by homogeneous freezing may not persist very long, which is consistent with the low frequency of occurrence of high ice concentrations indicated by cirrus measurements. Here, I use idealized simulations to investigate the impact of ice nucleation mechanism and ice nuclei abundance on the full lifecycle of cirrus clouds. The primary modeling framework used includes different modes of ice nucleation, deposition growth/sublimation, aggregation, sedimentation, and radiation. A limited number of cloud-resolving simulations that treat radiation/dynamics interactions will also been presented. I will show that for typical synoptic situations with mesoscale waves present, the time-averaged cirrus ice crystal size distributions and bulk cloud properties are less sensitive to ice nucleation processes than might be expected from the earlier simple ice nucleation calculations. I will evaluate the magnitude of the ice nuclei impact on cirrus for a range of temperatures and mesoscale wave specifications, and I will discuss the implications for cirrus aerosol indirect effects in general.

  9. Martian North Polar Water-Ice Clouds During the Viking Era

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tamppari, L. K.; Bass, D. S.

    2000-01-01

    The Viking Orbiters determined that the surface of Mars' northern residual cap consists of water ice. Observed atmospheric water vapor abundances in the equatorial regions have been related to seasonal exchange between reservoirs such as the polar caps, the regolith and between different phases in the atmosphere. Kahn modeled the physical characteristics of ice hazes seen in Viking Orbiter imaging limb data, hypothesizing that ice hazes provide a method for scavenging water vapor from the atmosphere and accumulating it into ice particles. Given that Jakosky found that these particles had sizes such that fallout times were of order one Martian sol, these water-ice hazes provided a method for returning more water to the regolith than that provided by adsorption alone. These hazes could also explain the rapid hemispheric decrease in atmospheric water in late northern summer as well as the increase during the following early spring. A similar comparison of water vapor abundance versus polar cap brightness has been done for the north polar region. They have shown that water vapor decreases steadily between L(sub s) = 100-150 deg while polar cap albedo increases during the same time frame. As a result, they suggested that late summer water-ice deposition onto the ice cap may be the cause of the cap brightening. This deposition could be due to adsorption directly onto the cap surface or to snowfall. Thus, an examination of north polar waterice clouds could lend insight into the fate of the water vapor during this time period. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

  10. Water ice is water ice: some applications and limitations of Earth analogues to Mars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koutnik, M.; Pathare, A.; Waddington, E. D.; Winebrenner, D. P.

    2017-12-01

    Quantitative and qualitative analyses of ice on Mars have advanced with the acquisition of abundant topography, imagery, and radar data, which have enabled the planetary-science community to tackle sophisticated questions about the martian cryosphere. Over the past decades, many studies have applied knowledge of terrestrial ice-sheet and glacier flow to improve understanding of ice behavior on Mars. A key question for both planets is how we can robustly interpret past climate from glaciological and glacial geomorphological features. Doing this requires deciphering how the history of accumulation, ablation, dust/debris deposition, and flow led to the shape and internal structure of present-day ice. Terrestrial glaciology and glacial geomorphology provide physical relationships that can be extended across environmental conditions to characterize related processes that may act at different rates or on different timescales. However, there remain fundamental unknowns about martian ice rheology and history that often limit our ability to directly apply understanding of ice dynamics learned from Antarctica, Greenland, terrestrial glaciers, and laboratory ice experiments. But the field is rich with opportunity because the constitutive relationship for water ice depends on quantities that can typically be reasonably estimated; water ice is water ice. We reflect on progress to understand the history of the ice-rich North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD) and of select mid-latitude Lobate Debris Aprons (LDAs), and the utility of terrestrial ice-sheet and glacier analogues for these problems. Our work on Earth and Mars has focused on constraining surface accumulation/ablation patterns and ice-flow histories from topography and radar observations. We present on the challenge of interpreting internal-layer shapes when both accumulation/ablation and ice-flow histories are unknown, and how this non-uniqueness can be broken only by making assumptions about one or the other. In

  11. Water ice and sub-micron ice particles on Tethys and Mimas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scipioni, Francesca; Nordheim, Tom; Clark, Roger Nelson; D'Aversa, Emiliano; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Tosi, Federico; Schenk, Paul M.; Combe, Jean-Philippe; Dalle Ore, Cristina M.

    2017-10-01

    IntroductionWe present our ongoing work, mapping the variation of the main water ice absorption bands, and the distribution of the sub-micron particles, across Mimas and Tethys’ surfaces using Cassini-VIMS cubes acquired in the IR range (0.8-5.1 μm). We present our results in the form of maps of variation of selected spectral indicators (depth of absorption bands, reflectance peak height, spectral slopes).Data analysisVIMS acquires hyperspectral data in the 0.3-5.1 μm spectral range. We selected VIMS cubes of Tethys and Mimas in the IR range (0.8-5.1 μm). For all pixels in the selected cubes, we measured the band depths for water-ice absorptions at 1.25, 1.5 and 2.02 μm and the height of the 3.6 μm reflection peak. Moreover, we considered the spectral indictors for particles smaller than 1 µm [1]: (i) the 2 µm absorption band is asymmetric and (ii) it has the minimum shifted to longer λ (iii) the band depth ratio 1.5/2.0 µm decreases; (iv) the reflection peak at 2.6 µm decreases; (v) the Fresnel reflection peak is suppressed; (vi) the 5 µm reflectance is decreased relative to the 3.6 µm peak. To characterize the global variation of water-ice band depths, and of sub-micron particles spectral indicators, across Mimas and Tethys, we sampled the two satellites’ surfacees with a 1°x1° fixed-resolution grid and then averaged the band depths and peak values inside each square cell.3. ResultsFor both moons we find that large geologic features, such as the Odysseus and Herschel impact basins, do not correlate with water ice’s abundance variation. For Tethys, we found a quite uniform surface on both hemispheres. The only deviation from this pattern shows up on the trailing hemisphere, where we notice two north-oriented, dark areas around 225° and 315°. For Mimas, the leading and trailing hemispheres appear to be quite similar in water ice abundance, the trailing portion having water ice absorption bands lightly more suppressed than the leading side

  12. Identification of Clathrate Hydrates, Hexagonal Ice, Cubic Ice, and Liquid Water in Simulations: the CHILL+ Algorithm.

    PubMed

    Nguyen, Andrew H; Molinero, Valeria

    2015-07-23

    Clathrate hydrates and ice I are the most abundant crystals of water. The study of their nucleation, growth, and decomposition using molecular simulations requires an accurate and efficient algorithm that distinguishes water molecules that belong to each of these crystals and the liquid phase. Existing algorithms identify ice or clathrates, but not both. This poses a challenge for cases in which ice and hydrate coexist, such as in the synthesis of clathrates from ice and the formation of ice from clathrates during self-preservation of methane hydrates. Here we present an efficient algorithm for the identification of clathrate hydrates, hexagonal ice, cubic ice, and liquid water in molecular simulations. CHILL+ uses the number of staggered and eclipsed water-water bonds to identify water molecules in cubic ice, hexagonal ice, and clathrate hydrate. CHILL+ is an extension of CHILL (Moore et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2010, 12, 4124-4134), which identifies hexagonal and cubic ice but not clathrates. In addition to the identification of hydrates, CHILL+ significantly improves the detection of hexagonal ice up to its melting point. We validate the use of CHILL+ for the identification of stacking faults in ice and the nucleation and growth of clathrate hydrates. To our knowledge, this is the first algorithm that allows for the simultaneous identification of ice and clathrate hydrates, and it does so in a way that is competitive with respect to existing methods used to identify any of these crystals.

  13. Measuring the expressed abundance of the three phases of water with an imaging spectrometer over melting snow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Green, Robert O.; Painter, Thomas H.; Roberts, Dar A.; Dozier, Jeff

    2006-10-01

    From imaging spectrometer data, we simultaneously estimate the abundance of the three phases of water in an environment that includes melting snow, basing the analysis on the spectral shift in the absorption coefficient between water vapor, liquid water, and ice at 940, 980, and 1030 nm respectively. We apply a spectral fitting algorithm that measures the expressed abundance of the three phases of water to a data set acquired by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) over Mount Rainier, Washington, on 14 June 1996. Precipitable water vapor varies from 1 mm over the summit of Mount Rainier to 10 mm over the lower valleys to the northwest. Equivalent path absorption of liquid water varies from 0 to 13 mm, with the zero values over rocky areas and high-elevation snow and the high values associated with liquid water held in vegetation canopies and in melting snow. Ice abundance varies from 0 to 30 mm equivalent path absorption in the snow- and glacier-covered portions of Mount Rainier. The water and ice abundances are related to the amount of liquid water and the sizes of the ice grains in the near-surface layer. Precision of the estimates, calculated over locally homogeneous areas, indicates an uncertainty of better than 1.5% for all three phases, except for liquid water in vegetation, where an optimally homogeneous site was not found. The analysis supports new strategies for hydrological research and applications as imaging spectrometers become more available.

  14. N2 and CO Desorption Energies from Water Ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fayolle, Edith C.; Balfe, Jodi; Loomis, Ryan; Bergner, Jennifer; Graninger, Dawn; Rajappan, Mahesh; Öberg, Karin I.

    2016-01-01

    The relative desorption energies of CO and N2 are key to interpretations of observed interstellar CO and N2 abundance patterns, including the well-documented CO and N2H+ anti-correlations in disks, protostars, and molecular cloud cores. Based on laboratory experiments on pure CO and N2 ice desorption, the difference between CO and N2 desorption energies is small; the N2-to-CO desorption energy ratio is 0.93 ± 0.03. Interstellar ices are not pure, however, and in this study we explore the effect of water ice on the desorption energy ratio of the two molecules. We present temperature programmed desorption experiments of different coverages of 13CO and 15N2 on porous and compact amorphous water ices and, for reference, of pure ices. In all experiments, 15N2 desorption begins a few degrees before the onset of 13CO desorption. The 15N2 and 13CO energy barriers are 770 and 866 K for the pure ices, 1034-1143 K and 1155-1298 K for different submonolayer coverages on compact water ice, and 1435 and 1575 K for ˜1 ML of ice on top of porous water ice. For all equivalent experiments, the N2-to-CO desorption energy ratio is consistently 0.9. Whenever CO and N2 ice reside in similar ice environments (e.g., experience a similar degree of interaction with water ice) their desorption temperatures should thus be within a few degrees of one another. A smaller N2-to-CO desorption energy ratio may be present in interstellar and circumstellar environments if the average CO ice molecules interacts more with water ice compared to the average N2 molecules.

  15. Water Ice and Life's Roots in Space

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blake, David; Jenniskens, Peter; DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    Nearly three decades ago as Voyager 2 spacecraft raced out of the Solar System. NASA engineers turned its camera arm around (at the request of the American astronomer Carl Sagan) to take a parting snapshot of Earth. Earth's image was a single pale blue pixel, its color caused by the Rayleigh scattering of sunlight in the water of our oceans. Earth is a water planet, and this is the color of life. No matter how far we travel on our planet, no matter how high or deep, if we find liquid water, we find some form of life that manages to survive there. And yet there is a cruel irony. Water in its solid crystalline form is hostile to life. Organisms can roost in geysers, wallow in brine and gulp down acid, but they cowered from ice. The rigid ordering of water molecules in ice crystals expels impurities and tears organic tissue beyond repair. In fact, about the only good thing you can say about ice is that it gets out of the way: Its low density ensures that it floats and leaves the water dwelling creatures in peace. Recent discoveries have caused us to rethink this basic premise. New lines of evidence both observational and experimental - suggest that prebiotic organic compounds are not only comfortable in, but in fact had their origin in a peculiar form of solid water ice that is ubiquitous in interstellar space, but completely absent from Earth. Only recently have we been able to create even submicroscopic quantities of this ice in terrestrial laboratories, yet it constitutes the most abundant form of water in the universe. Interstellar ice is a far cry from the ice we are so familiar with on Earth. This interstellar ice has no crystalline structure, and despite the fact that its temperature is a scant few degrees above absolute zero (where all molecular motion ceases), it is highly reactive and can flow like water when exposed to radiation. It is in fact this ice's similarity to liquid water that allows it to participate in the creation of the very first organic

  16. Constraining Water Vapor Abundance on Mars using a Coupled Heat-Water Transport Model and Seasonal Frost Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bapst, J.; Byrne, S.

    2016-12-01

    The stability of water ice on Mars' surface is determined by its temperature and the density of water vapor at the bottom of the atmosphere. Multiple orbiting instruments have been used to study column-integrated water abundance in the martian atmosphere, resolving the global annual water cycle. However, poor knowledge of the vertical distribution of water makes constraining its abundance near the surface difficult. One must assume a mixing regime to produce surface vapor density estimates. More indirectly, one can use the appearance and disappearance of seasonal water frost, along with ice stability models, to estimate this value. Here, we use derived temperature and surface reflectance data from MGS TES to constrain a 1-D thermal diffusion model, which is coupled to an atmospheric water transport model. TES temperatures are used to constrain thermal properties of our modeled subsurface, while changes in TES albedo can be used to determine the timing of water frost. We tune the density of water vapor in the atmospheric model to match the observed seasonal water frost timing in the northern hemisphere, poleward of 45°N. Thus, we produce a new estimate for the water abundance in the lower atmosphere of Mars and how it varies seasonally and geographically. The timing of water frost can be ambiguous in TES data, especially at lower latitudes where the albedo contrast between frosted and unfrosted surfaces is lower (presumably due to lesser areal coverage of water frost). The uncertainty in frost timing with our approach is <20° LS ( 40 sols), and will be used to define upper and lower bounds in our estimate of vapor density. The implications of our derived vapor densities on the stability of surface and subsurface water ice will be discussed.

  17. Anchor ice and benthic disturbance in shallow Antarctic waters: interspecific variation in initiation and propagation of ice crystals.

    PubMed

    Denny, Mark; Dorgan, Kelly M; Evangelista, Dennis; Hettinger, Annaliese; Leichter, James; Ruder, Warren C; Tuval, Idan

    2011-10-01

    Sea ice typically forms at the ocean's surface, but given a source of supercooled water, an unusual form of ice--anchor ice--can grow on objects in the water column or at the seafloor. For several decades, ecologists have considered anchor ice to be an important agent of disturbance in the shallow-water benthic communities of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, and potentially elsewhere in polar seas. Divers have documented anchor ice in the McMurdo communities, and its presence coincides with reduced abundance of the sponge Homaxinella balfourensis, which provides habitat for a diverse assemblage of benthic organisms. However, the mechanism of this disturbance has not been explored. Here we show interspecific differences in anchor-ice formation and propagation characteristics for Antarctic benthic organisms. The sponges H. balfourensis and Suberites caminatus show increased incidence of formation and accelerated spread of ice crystals compared to urchins and sea stars. Anchor ice also forms readily on sediments, from which it can grow and adhere to organisms. Our results are consistent with, and provide a potential first step toward, an explanation for disturbance patterns observed in shallow polar benthic communities. Interspecific differences in ice formation raise questions about how surface tissue characteristics such as surface area, rugosity, and mucus coating affect ice formation on invertebrates.

  18. Heterogeneous Ice Nucleation: Interplay of Surface Properties and Their Impact on Water Orientations.

    PubMed

    Glatz, Brittany; Sarupria, Sapna

    2018-01-23

    Ice is ubiquitous in nature, and heterogeneous ice nucleation is the most common pathway of ice formation. How surface properties affect the propensity to observe ice nucleation on that surface remains an open question. We present results of molecular dynamics studies of heterogeneous ice nucleation on model surfaces. The models surfaces considered emulate the chemistry of kaolinite, an abundant component of mineral dust. We investigate the interplay of surface lattice and hydrogen bonding properties in affecting ice nucleation. We find that lattice matching and hydrogen bonding are necessary but not sufficient conditions for observing ice nucleation at these surfaces. We correlate this behavior to the orientations sampled by the metastable supercooled water in contact with the surfaces. We find that ice is observed in cases where water molecules not only sample orientations favorable for bilayer formation but also do not sample unfavorable orientations. This distribution depends on both surface-water and water-water interactions and can change with subtle modifications to the surface properties. Our results provide insights into the diverse behavior of ice nucleation observed at different surfaces and highlight the complexity in elucidating heterogeneous ice nucleation.

  19. CO2 snow depth and subsurface water-ice abundance in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

    PubMed

    Mitrofanov, I G; Zuber, M T; Litvak, M L; Boynton, W V; Smith, D E; Drake, D; Hamara, D; Kozyrev, A S; Sanin, A B; Shinohara, C; Saunders, R S; Tretyakov, V

    2003-06-27

    Observations of seasonal variations of neutron flux from the high-energy neutron detector (HEND) on Mars Odyssey combined with direct measurements of the thickness of condensed carbon dioxide by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on Mars Global Surveyor show a latitudinal dependence of northern winter deposition of carbon dioxide. The observations are also consistent with a shallow substrate consisting of a layer with water ice overlain by a layer of drier soil. The lower ice-rich layer contains between 50 and 75 weight % water, indicating that the shallow subsurface at northern polar latitudes on Mars is even more water rich than that in the south.

  20. Protozoan Bacterivory in the Ice and the Water Column of a Cold Temperate Lagoon.

    PubMed

    Sime-Ngando; Demers; Juniper

    1999-02-01

    > Abstract Bacterial abundance and bacterivorous protist abundance and activity were examined in ice-brine and water column communities of a cold temperate Japanese lagoon (Saroma-Ko Lagoon, Hokkaido, 44 degreesN, 144 degreesE), during the late winter phase of ice community development (February-March 1992). Bacterial abundance averaged 6 and 1 x 10(5) cells ml-1 in the ice-brine and plankton samples, respectively, and generally decreased during the sampling period. Bacterivorous protists, identified based on direct observation of short-term (<1 h) ingested fluorescently labeled bacteria (FLB) in their food vacuoles, were largely dominated by flagellates, mainly cryothecomonad-type and chrysomonad-like cells and small dinoflagellates of the genus Gymnodinium. Bacterivorous ciliates included mainly the prostomatid Urotricha sp., the scuticociliates Uronema and Cyclidium, the choreotrichs Lohmaniella oviformis and Strobilidium, and the hypotrich Euplotes sp. Protist abundance averaged 4 x 10(3) and 8.1 cells ml-1 in the ice-brine and 0.3 x 10(3) and 1.2 cells ml-1 in the plankton, for flagellates and ciliates, respectively. In contrast to bacteria, the abundance of protists generally increased throughout the sampling period, indicating predator-prey interactions. Protistan bacterivory, measured from the rate of FLB disappearance over 24 h, averaged 36% (ice) and 24% (plankton) of bacterial standing stock and exhibited the same seasonal pattern as for protist abundance. The calculated specific clearance (range, 2-67 nl protozoa-1 h-1) and ingestion (<1-26 particles protozoa-1 h-1) rates were likely to be minimal estimates and grazing impact may have been higher on occasion. Indications for the dependence of "bacterivorous protists" on nonbacterial food items were also provided. Although alternative sources of bacterial loss are likely to be of importance, this study provides evidence for the potential of protozoan assemblages as bacterial grazers in both sea ice

  1. On the Formation of Interstellar Water Ice: Constraints from a Search for Hydrogen Peroxide Ice in Molecular Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, R. G.; Charnely, S. B.; Pendleton, Y. J.; Wright, C. M.; Maldoni, M. M.; Robinson, G.

    2011-01-01

    Recent surface chemistry experiments have shown that the hydrogenation of molecular oxygen on interstellar dust grains is a plausible formation mechanism, via hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), for the production of water (H2O) ice mantles in the dense interstellar medium. Theoretical chemistry models also predict the formation of a significant abundance of H2O2 ice in grain mantles by this route. At their upper limits, the predicted and experimental abundances are sufficiently high that H2O2 should be detectable in molecular cloud ice spectra. To investigate this further, laboratory spectra have been obtained for H2O2/H2O ice films between 2.5 and 200 micron, from 10 to 180 K, containing 3%, 30%, and 97% H2O2 ice. Integrated absorbances for all the absorption features in low-temperature H2O2 ice have been derived from these spectra. For identifying H2O2 ice, the key results are the presence of unique features near 3.5, 7.0, and 11.3 micron. Comparing the laboratory spectra with the spectra of a group of 24 protostars and field stars, all of which have strong H2O ice absorption bands, no absorption features are found that can definitely be identified with H2O2 ice. In the absence of definite H2O2 features, the H2O2 abundance is constrained by its possible contribution to the weak absorption feature near 3.47 micron found on the long-wavelength wing of the 3 micron H2O ice band. This gives an average upper limit for H2O2, as a percentage of H2O, of 9% +/- 4%. This is a strong constraint on parameters for surface chemistry experiments and dense cloud chemistry models.

  2. Freshwater ice as habitat: partitioning of phytoplankton and bacteria between ice and water in central European reservoirs.

    PubMed

    McKay, Robert M L; Prášil, Ondrej; Pechar, Libor; Lawrenz, Evelyn; Rozmarynowycz, Mark J; Bullerjahn, George S

    2015-12-01

    Abundant phytoplankton and bacteria were identified by high-throughput 16S rRNA tag Illumina sequencing of samples from water and ice phases collected during winter at commercial fish ponds and a sand pit lake within the UNESCO Třeboň Basin Biosphere Reserve, Czech Republic. Bacterial reads were dominated by Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Despite dominance by members of just two phyla, UniFrac principal coordinates analysis of the bacterial community separated the water community of Klec fish pond, as well as the ice-associated community of Klec-Sand Pit from other samples. Both phytoplankton and cyanobacteria were represented with hundreds of sequence reads per sample, a finding corroborated by microscopy. In particular, ice from Klec-Sand Pit contained high contributions from photoautotrophs accounting for 25% of total reads with reads dominated by single operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of the cyanobacterium Planktothrix sp. and two filamentous diatoms. Dominant OTUs recovered from ice were largely absent (< 0.01%) from underlying water suggestive of low floristic similarity of phytoplankton partitioned between these phases. Photosynthetic characterization of phototrophs resident in water and ice analysed by variable chlorophyll a fluorescence showed that communities from both phases were photosynthetically active, thus supporting ice as viable habitat for phytoplankton in freshwater lakes and reservoirs. © 2015 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Experimental provocation of 'ice-cream headache' by ice cubes and ice water.

    PubMed

    Mages, Stephan; Hensel, Ole; Zierz, Antonia Maria; Kraya, Torsten; Zierz, Stephan

    2017-04-01

    Background There are various studies on experimentally provoked 'ice-cream headache' or 'headache attributed to ingestion or inhalation of a cold stimulus' (HICS) using different provocation protocols. The aim of this study was to compare two provocation protocols. Methods Ice cubes pressed to the palate and fast ingestion of ice water were used to provoke HICS and clinical features were compared. Results The ice-water stimulus provoked HICS significantly more often than the ice-cube stimulus (9/77 vs. 39/77). Ice-water-provoked HICS had a significantly shorter latency (median 15 s, range 4-97 s vs. median 68 s, range 27-96 s). There was no difference in pain localisation. Character after ice-cube stimulation was predominantly described as pressing and after ice-water stimulation as stabbing. A second HICS followed in 10/39 (26%) of the headaches provoked by ice water. Lacrimation occurred significantly more often in volunteers with than in those without HICS. Discussion HICS provoked by ice water was more frequent, had a shorter latency, different pain character and higher pain intensity than HICS provoked by ice cubes. The finding of two subsequent HICS attacks in the same volunteers supports the notion that two types of HICS exist. Lacrimation during HICS indicates involvement of the trigeminal-autonomic reflex.

  4. Characteristics of basal ice and subglacial water at Dome Fuji, Antarctica ice sheet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Motoyama, H.; Uemura, R.; Hirabayashi, M.; Miyake, T.; Kuramoto, T.; Tanaka, Y.; Dome Fuji Ice Core Project, M.

    2008-12-01

    (Introduction): The second deep ice coring project at Dome Fuji, Antarctica reached a depth of 3035.22 m during the austral summer season in 2006/2007. The recovered ice cores contain records of global environmental changes going back about 720,000 years. (Estimation of basal ice melt): The borehole measurement was carried out on January 2nd in 2007 when the temperature disturbance in the borehole calmed down by the rest of drilling for 2 days. Temperature measurement was performed after 0 C thermometer test was done in the ground. The temperature sensor of pt100 installed in the skate-like anti-torque was used. We did not have the enough time until the temperature of thermometer was matched with the temperature of ice sheet. Some error was included in ice temperature data. The resistance of pt100 sensor was converted to temperature in the borehole measurement machine. But we used only two electrical lines for pt100 sensor. Rate of heat flow in the ice sheet was calculated using the vertical temperature gradient of the ice sheet and rate of heat conductivity of ice. The deepest part of heat flux using temperatures at 3000m and 3030m was about 45mW/m2. We assumed that this value was the heat flux from the bedrock in the ice sheet. Heat flux to the bedrock surface in the ground was assumed 54.6mW/m2 adopted by ice sheet model (P. Huybrechts, 2006). Then the heat flux for basal ice melt was about 10mW/m2. This value was equaled to melting of 1.1mm of ice thickness per year. On the other hand, the annual layer thickness under 2500m was not changed so much and its average was 1.3mm of ice thickness. So the annual layer thickness and melting rate of basal ice was the same in ordering way. Or ice equivalent in annual layer is melting every year. The age of the deepest part of ice core is guessed at 720,000 years old and the ice older than basal ice has melted away. (The state of basal ice): When the ice core drilling depth passed 3031.44m, amount of ice chip more abundant

  5. Exposed water ice on the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

    PubMed

    Filacchione, G; De Sanctis, M C; Capaccioni, F; Raponi, A; Tosi, F; Ciarniello, M; Cerroni, P; Piccioni, G; Capria, M T; Palomba, E; Bellucci, G; Erard, S; Bockelee-Morvan, D; Leyrat, C; Arnold, G; Barucci, M A; Fulchignoni, M; Schmitt, B; Quirico, E; Jaumann, R; Stephan, K; Longobardo, A; Mennella, V; Migliorini, A; Ammannito, E; Benkhoff, J; Bibring, J P; Blanco, A; Blecka, M I; Carlson, R; Carsenty, U; Colangeli, L; Combes, M; Combi, M; Crovisier, J; Drossart, P; Encrenaz, T; Federico, C; Fink, U; Fonti, S; Ip, W H; Irwin, P; Kuehrt, E; Langevin, Y; Magni, G; McCord, T; Moroz, L; Mottola, S; Orofino, V; Schade, U; Taylor, F; Tiphene, D; Tozzi, G P; Beck, P; Biver, N; Bonal, L; Combe, J-Ph; Despan, D; Flamini, E; Formisano, M; Fornasier, S; Frigeri, A; Grassi, D; Gudipati, M S; Kappel, D; Mancarella, F; Markus, K; Merlin, F; Orosei, R; Rinaldi, G; Cartacci, M; Cicchetti, A; Giuppi, S; Hello, Y; Henry, F; Jacquinod, S; Reess, J M; Noschese, R; Politi, R; Peter, G

    2016-01-21

    Although water vapour is the main species observed in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and water is the major constituent of cometary nuclei, limited evidence for exposed water-ice regions on the surface of the nucleus has been found so far. The absence of large regions of exposed water ice seems a common finding on the surfaces of many of the comets observed so far. The nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko appears to be fairly uniformly coated with dark, dehydrated, refractory and organic-rich material. Here we report the identification at infrared wavelengths of water ice on two debris falls in the Imhotep region of the nucleus. The ice has been exposed on the walls of elevated structures and at the base of the walls. A quantitative derivation of the abundance of ice in these regions indicates the presence of millimetre-sized pure water-ice grains, considerably larger than in all previous observations. Although micrometre-sized water-ice grains are the usual result of vapour recondensation in ice-free layers, the occurrence of millimetre-sized grains of pure ice as observed in the Imhotep debris falls is best explained by grain growth by vapour diffusion in ice-rich layers, or by sintering. As a consequence of these processes, the nucleus can develop an extended and complex coating in which the outer dehydrated crust is superimposed on layers enriched in water ice. The stratigraphy observed on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is therefore the result of evolutionary processes affecting the uppermost metres of the nucleus and does not necessarily require a global layering to have occurred at the time of the comet's formation.

  6. Vapor deposition of water on graphitic surfaces: formation of amorphous ice, bilayer ice, ice I, and liquid water.

    PubMed

    Lupi, Laura; Kastelowitz, Noah; Molinero, Valeria

    2014-11-14

    Carbonaceous surfaces are a major source of atmospheric particles and could play an important role in the formation of ice. Here we investigate through molecular simulations the stability, metastability, and molecular pathways of deposition of amorphous ice, bilayer ice, and ice I from water vapor on graphitic and atomless Lennard-Jones surfaces as a function of temperature. We find that bilayer ice is the most stable ice polymorph for small cluster sizes, nevertheless it can grow metastable well above its region of thermodynamic stability. In agreement with experiments, the simulations predict that on increasing temperature the outcome of water deposition is amorphous ice, bilayer ice, ice I, and liquid water. The deposition nucleation of bilayer ice and ice I is preceded by the formation of small liquid clusters, which have two wetting states: bilayer pancake-like (wetting) at small cluster size and droplet-like (non-wetting) at larger cluster size. The wetting state of liquid clusters determines which ice polymorph is nucleated: bilayer ice nucleates from wetting bilayer liquid clusters and ice I from non-wetting liquid clusters. The maximum temperature for nucleation of bilayer ice on flat surfaces, T(B)(max) is given by the maximum temperature for which liquid water clusters reach the equilibrium melting line of bilayer ice as wetting bilayer clusters. Increasing water-surface attraction stabilizes the pancake-like wetting state of liquid clusters leading to larger T(B)(max) for the flat non-hydrogen bonding surfaces of this study. The findings of this study should be of relevance for the understanding of ice formation by deposition mode on carbonaceous atmospheric particles, including soot.

  7. Water ice grains in comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Protopapa, Silvia; Kelley, Michael S. P.; Yang, Bin; Woodward, Charles E.; Sunshine, Jessica M.

    2017-10-01

    Knowledge of the the physical properties of water ice in cometary nuclei is critical in determining how the Solar System was formed. While it is difficult to directly study the properties of water ice in comet nuclei, we can study comet interiors through their comae. Cometary activity makes the interiors of these objects available for characterization. However, the properties (grain size, abundance, purity, chemical state) of water-ice grains detected in the coma do not necessarily represent the characteristics of the water ice on the surface and/or in the interior of the nucleus. This is due to the potential physical and chemical evolution of the emitted material. Once in the coma, water-ice grains are heated by sunlight, and if temperatures are warm enough, they sublime. In this case, their sizes and potentially their ice-to-dust fractions are reduced.We present IRTF/SpeX measurements of the Oort cloud comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina), which reached perihelion in Nov 2015 at a heliocentric distance Rh=0.822 AU. Observations of US10 were acquired on UT 2014-08-13, 2016-01-12, and 2016-08-13 (Rh=5.9, 1.3, and 3.9 AU). This set of measurements, spanning a broad range in Rh, are rare and fundamental for estimating how ice grains evolve in the coma. The spectrum obtained close to perihelion is featureless and red sloped, which is consistent with a dust-dominated coma. Conversely, the spectra acquired on August 2014 and 2016 display neutral slopes and absorption bands at 1.5 and 2.0 μm, consistent with the presence of water-ice grains. These variations in water ice with heliocentric distance are correlated with sublimation rates. Additionally, the measurements obtained at 5.8 AU and 3.9 AU are nearly identical, suggesting that water-ice grains, once in the coma, do not sublime significantly. Therefore, the properties of these long-lived water-ice grains may represent their state in the nucleus or immediately after insertion into the coma. We will present radiative

  8. Analysis Sharpens Mars Hydrogen Map, Hinting Equatorial Water Ice

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-09-28

    Re-analysis of 2002-2009 data from a hydrogen-finding instrument on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter increased the resolution of maps of hydrogen abundance. The reprocessed data (lower map) shows more "water-equivalent hydrogen" (darker blue) in some parts of this equatorial region of Mars. Puzzingly, this suggests the possible presence of water ice just beneath the surface near the equator, though it would not be thermodynamically stable there. The upper map uses raw data from Odyssey's neutron spectrometer instrument, which senses the energy state of neutrons coming from Mars, providing an indication of how much hydrogen is present in the top 3 feet (1 meter) of the surface. Hydrogen detected by Odyssey at high latitudes of Mars in 2002 was confirmed to be in the form of water ice by the follow-up NASA Phoenix Mars Lander mission in 2008. A 2017 reprocessing of the older data applied image-reconstruction techniques often used to reduce blurring from medical imaging data. The results are shown here for an area straddling the equator for about one-fourth the circumference of the planet, centered at 175 degrees west longitude. The white contours outline lobes of a formation called Medusae Fossae, coinciding with some areas of higher hydrogen abundance in the enhanced-resolution analysis. The black line indicates the limit of a relatively young lava plain, coinciding with areas of lower hydrogen abundance in the enhanced-resolution analysis. The color-coding key for hydrogen abundance in both maps is indicated by the horizontal bar, in units expressed as how much water would be present in the ground if the hydrogen is all in the form of water. Units of the equivalent water weight, as a percentage of the material in the ground, are correlated with counts recorded by the spectrometer, ranging from less than 1 weight-percent water equivalent (red) to more than 30 percent (dark blue). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21848

  9. Large Scale Ice Water Path and 3-D Ice Water Content

    DOE Data Explorer

    Liu, Guosheng

    2008-01-15

    Cloud ice water concentration is one of the most important, yet poorly observed, cloud properties. Developing physical parameterizations used in general circulation models through single-column modeling is one of the key foci of the ARM program. In addition to the vertical profiles of temperature, water vapor and condensed water at the model grids, large-scale horizontal advective tendencies of these variables are also required as forcing terms in the single-column models. Observed horizontal advection of condensed water has not been available because the radar/lidar/radiometer observations at the ARM site are single-point measurement, therefore, do not provide horizontal distribution of condensed water. The intention of this product is to provide large-scale distribution of cloud ice water by merging available surface and satellite measurements. The satellite cloud ice water algorithm uses ARM ground-based measurements as baseline, produces datasets for 3-D cloud ice water distributions in a 10 deg x 10 deg area near ARM site. The approach of the study is to expand a (surface) point measurement to an (satellite) areal measurement. That is, this study takes the advantage of the high quality cloud measurements at the point of ARM site. We use the cloud characteristics derived from the point measurement to guide/constrain satellite retrieval, then use the satellite algorithm to derive the cloud ice water distributions within an area, i.e., 10 deg x 10 deg centered at ARM site.

  10. Liquid Water Oceans in Ice Giants

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wiktorowicz, Sloane J.; Ingersoll, Andrew P.

    2007-01-01

    Aptly named, ice giants such as Uranus and Neptune contain significant amounts of water. While this water cannot be present near the cloud tops, it must be abundant in the deep interior. We investigate the likelihood of a liquid water ocean existing in the hydrogen-rich region between the cloud tops and deep interior. Starting from an assumed temperature at a given upper tropospheric pressure (the photosphere), we follow a moist adiabat downward. The mixing ratio of water to hydrogen in the gas phase is small in the photosphere and increases with depth. The mixing ratio in the condensed phase is near unity in the photosphere and decreases with depth; this gives two possible outcomes. If at some pressure level the mixing ratio of water in the gas phase is equal to that in the deep interior, then that level is the cloud base. The gas below the cloud base has constant mixing ratio. Alternately, if the mixing ratio of water in the condensed phase reaches that in the deep interior, then the surface of a liquid ocean will occur. Below this ocean surface, the mixing ratio of water will be constant. A cloud base occurs when the photospheric temperature is high. For a family of ice giants with different photospheric temperatures, the cooler ice giants will have warmer cloud bases. For an ice giant with a cool enough photospheric temperature, the cloud base will exist at the critical temperature. For still cooler ice giants, ocean surfaces will result. A high mixing ratio of water in the deep interior favors a liquid ocean. We find that Neptune is both too warm (photospheric temperature too high) and too dry (mixing ratio of water in the deep interior too low) for liquid oceans to exist at present. To have a liquid ocean, Neptune s deep interior water to gas ratio would have to be higher than current models allow, and the density at 19 kbar would have to be approx. equal to 0.8 g/cu cm. Such a high density is inconsistent with gravitational data obtained during the Voyager

  11. Pyroelectricity of water ice.

    PubMed

    Wang, Hanfu; Bell, Richard C; Iedema, Martin J; Schenter, Gregory K; Wu, Kai; Cowin, James P

    2008-05-22

    Water ice usually is thought to have zero pyroelectricity by symmetry. However, biasing it with ions breaks the symmetry because of the induced partial dipole alignment. This unmasks a large pyroelectricity. Ions were soft-landed upon 1 mum films of water ice at temperatures greater than 160 K. When cooled below 140-150 K, the dipole alignment locks in. Work function measurements of these films then show high and reversible pyroelectric activity from 30 to 150 K. For an initial approximately 10 V induced by the deposited ions at 160 K, the observed bias below 150 K varies approximately as 10 Vx(T/150 K)2. This implies that water has pyroelectric coefficients as large as that of many commercial pyroelectrics, such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The pyroelectricity of water ice, not previously reported, is in reasonable agreement with that predicted using harmonic analysis of a model system of SPC ice. The pyroelectricity is observed in crystalline and compact amorphous ice, deuterated or not. This implies that for water ice between 0 and 150 K (such as astrophysical ices), temperature changes can induce strong electric fields (approximately 10 MV/m) that can influence their chemistry, ion trajectories, or binding.

  12. Environmental controls on microbial abundance and activity on the greenland ice sheet: a multivariate analysis approach.

    PubMed

    Stibal, Marek; Telling, Jon; Cook, Joe; Mak, Ka Man; Hodson, Andy; Anesio, Alexandre M

    2012-01-01

    Microbes in supraglacial ecosystems have been proposed to be significant contributors to regional and possibly global carbon cycling, and quantifying the biogeochemical cycling of carbon in glacial ecosystems is of great significance for global carbon flow estimations. Here we present data on microbial abundance and productivity, collected along a transect across the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) in summer 2010. We analyse the relationships between the physical, chemical and biological variables using multivariate statistical analysis. Concentrations of debris-bound nutrients increased with distance from the ice sheet margin, as did both cell numbers and activity rates before reaching a peak (photosynthesis) or a plateau (respiration, abundance) between 10 and 20 km from the margin. The results of productivity measurements suggest an overall net autotrophy on the GrIS and support the proposed role of ice sheet ecosystems in carbon cycling as regional sinks of CO(2) and places of production of organic matter that can be a potential source of nutrients for downstream ecosystems. Principal component analysis based on chemical and biological data revealed three clusters of sites, corresponding to three 'glacier ecological zones', confirmed by a redundancy analysis (RDA) using physical data as predictors. RDA using data from the largest 'bare ice zone' showed that glacier surface slope, a proxy for melt water flow, accounted for most of the variation in the data. Variation in the chemical data was fully explainable by the determined physical variables. Abundance of phototrophic microbes and their proportion in the community were identified as significant controls of the carbon cycling-related microbial processes.

  13. Water Ice on Pluto

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2015-10-16

    The Ralph instrument on NASA's New Horizons spacecraft detected water ice on Pluto's surface, picking up on the ice's near-infrared spectral characteristics. (See featured image from Oct. 8, 2015.) The middle panel shows a region west of Pluto's "heart" feature -- which the mission team calls Tombaugh Regio -- about 280 miles (450 kilometers) across. It combines visible imagery from Ralph's Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) with infrared spectroscopy from the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA). Areas with the strongest water ice spectral signature are highlighted in blue. Major outcrops of water ice occur in regions informally called Viking Terra, along Virgil Fossa west of Elliot crater, and in Baré Montes. Numerous smaller outcrops are associated with impact craters and valleys between mountains. In the lower left panel, LEISA spectra are shown for two regions indicated by cyan and magenta boxes. The white curve is a water ice model spectrum, showing similar features to the cyan spectrum. The magenta spectrum is dominated by methane ice absorptions. The lower right panel shows an MVIC enhanced color view of the region in the white box, with MVIC's blue, red and near-infrared filters displayed in blue, green and red channels, respectively. The regions showing the strongest water ice signature are associated with terrains that are actually a lighter shade of red. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20030

  14. Turbulent heat exchange between water and ice at an evolving ice-water interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramudu, E.; Hirsh, B.; Olson, P.; Gnanadesikan, A.

    2016-02-01

    Experimental results are presented on the time evolution of ice subject to a turbulent shear flow in a layer of water of uniform depth. Our study is motivated by observations in the ocean cavity beneath Antarctic ice shelves, where shoaling of Circumpolar Deep Water into the cavity has been implicated in the accelerated melting of the ice shelf base. Measurements of inflow and outflow at the ice shelf front have shown that not all of the heat entering the cavity is delivered to the ice shelf, suggesting that turbulent transfer to the ice represents an important bottleneck. Given that a range of turbulent transfer coefficients has been used in models it is important to better constrain this parameter. We measure as a function of time in our experiments the thickness of the ice, temperatures in the ice and water, and fluid velocity in the shear flow, starting from an initial condition in which the water is at rest and the ice has grown by conduction above a cold plate. The strength of the applied turbulent shear flow is represented in terms of a Reynolds number Re, which is varied over the range 3.5 × 103 ≤ Re ≤ 1.9 × 104. Transient partial melting of the ice occurs at the lower end of this range of Re and complete transient melting of the ice occurs at the higher end of the range. Following these melting transients, the ice reforms at a rate that is independent of Re. We fit to our experimental measurements of ice thickness and temperature a one-dimensional model for the evolution of the ice thickness in which the turbulent heat transfer is parameterized in terms of the friction velocity of the shear flow. Comparison with the Pine Island Glacier Ice Shelf yields qualitative agreement between the transient ice melting rates predicted by our model and the shelf melting rate inferred from the field observations.

  15. Abundant Methanol Ice toward a Massive Young Stellar Object in the Central Molecular Zone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    An, Deokkeun; Sellgren, Kris; Boogert, A. C. Adwin; Ramírez, Solange V.; Pyo, Tae-Soo

    2017-07-01

    Previous radio observations revealed widespread gas-phase methanol (CH3OH) in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) at the Galactic center (GC), but its origin remains unclear. Here, we report the discovery of CH3OH ice toward a star in the CMZ, based on a Subaru 3.4-4.0 μm spectrum, aided by NASA/IRTF L\\prime imaging and 2-4 μm spectra. The star lies ˜8000 au away in projection from a massive young stellar object (MYSO). Its observed high CH3OH ice abundance (17 % +/- 3 % relative to H2O ice) suggests that the 3.535 μm CH3OH ice absorption likely arises in the MYSO’s extended envelope. However, it is also possible that CH3OH ice forms with a higher abundance in dense clouds within the CMZ, compared to within the disk. Either way, our result implies that gas-phase CH3OH in the CMZ can be largely produced by desorption from icy grains. The high solid CH3OH abundance confirms the prominent 15.4 μm shoulder absorption observed toward GC MYSOs arises from CO2 ice mixed with CH3OH. Based in part on data collected at Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

  16. ORTHO-TO-PARA ABUNDANCE RATIO OF WATER ION IN COMET C/2001 Q4 (NEAT): IMPLICATION FOR ORTHO-TO-PARA ABUNDANCE RATIO OF WATER

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Shinnaka, Yoshiharu; Kawakita, Hideyo; Kobayashi, Hitomi

    2012-04-20

    The ortho-to-para abundance ratio (OPR) of cometary molecules is considered to be one of the primordial characteristics of cometary ices, and contains information concerning their formation. Water is the most abundant species in cometary ices, and OPRs of water in comets have been determined from infrared spectroscopic observations of H{sub 2}O rovibrational transitions so far. In this paper, we present a new method to derive OPR of water in comets from the high-dispersion spectrum of the rovibronic emission of H{sub 2}O{sup +} in the optical wavelength region. The rovibronic emission lines of H{sub 2}O{sup +} are sometimes contaminated by othermore » molecular emission lines but they are not affected seriously by telluric absorption compared with near-infrared observations. Since H{sub 2}O{sup +} ions are mainly produced from H{sub 2}O by photoionization in the coma, the OPR of H{sub 2}O{sup +} is considered to be equal to that of water based on the nuclear spin conservation through the reaction. We have developed a fluorescence excitation model of H{sub 2}O{sup +} and applied it to the spectrum of comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT). The derived OPR of water is 2.54{sup +0.32}{sub -0.25}, which corresponds to a nuclear spin temperature (T{sub spin}) of 30{sup +10}{sub -4} K. This is consistent with the previous value determined in the near-infrared for the same comet (OPR = 2.6 {+-} 0.3, T{sub spin} = 31{sup +11}{sub -5} K).« less

  17. Turbulent heat exchange between water and ice at an evolving ice-water interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramudu, Eshwan; Hirsh, Benjamin Henry; Olson, Peter; Gnanadesikan, Anand

    2016-07-01

    We conduct laboratory experiments on the time evolution of an ice layer cooled from below and subjected to a turbulent shear flow of warm water from above. Our study is motivated by observations of warm water intrusion into the ocean cavity under Antarctic ice shelves, accelerating the melting of their basal surfaces. The strength of the applied turbulent shear flow in our experiments is represented in terms of its Reynolds number $\\textit{Re}$, which is varied over the range $2.0\\times10^3 \\le \\textit{Re} \\le 1.0\\times10^4$. Depending on the water temperature, partial transient melting of the ice occurs at the lower end of this range of $\\textit{Re}$ and complete transient melting of the ice occurs at the higher end. Following these episodes of transient melting, the ice reforms at a rate that is independent of $\\textit{Re}$. We fit our experimental measurements of ice thickness and temperature to a one-dimensional model for the evolution of the ice thickness in which the turbulent heat transfer is parameterized in terms of the friction velocity of the shear flow. The melting mechanism we investigate in our experiments can easily account for the basal melting rate of Pine Island Glacier ice shelf inferred from observations.

  18. Systematic Variations in CO2/H2O Ice Abundance Ratios in Nearby Galaxies Found with AKARI Near-infrared Spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yamagishi, M.; Kaneda, H.; Ishihara, D.; Oyabu, S.; Onaka, T.; Shimonishi, T.; Suzuki, T.

    2015-07-01

    We report CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios in seven nearby star-forming galaxies based on the AKARI near-infrared (2.5-5.0 μm) spectra. The CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios show clear variations between 0.05 and 0.2 with the averaged value of 0.14 ± 0.01. The previous study on M82 revealed that the CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios strongly correlate with the intensity ratios of the hydrogen recombination Brα line to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 3.3 μm feature. In the present study, however, we find no correlation for the seven galaxies as a whole due to systematic differences in the relation between CO2/H2O ice abundance and Brα/PAH 3.3 μm intensity ratios from galaxy to galaxy. This result suggests that there is another parameter that determines the CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios in a galaxy in addition to the Brα/PAH 3.3 μm ratios. We find that the CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios positively correlate with the specific star formation rates of the galaxies. From these results, we conclude that CO2/H2O ice abundance ratios tend to be high in young star-forming galaxies.

  19. Sea ice ecosystems.

    PubMed

    Arrigo, Kevin R

    2014-01-01

    Polar sea ice is one of the largest ecosystems on Earth. The liquid brine fraction of the ice matrix is home to a diverse array of organisms, ranging from tiny archaea to larger fish and invertebrates. These organisms can tolerate high brine salinity and low temperature but do best when conditions are milder. Thriving ice algal communities, generally dominated by diatoms, live at the ice/water interface and in recently flooded surface and interior layers, especially during spring, when temperatures begin to rise. Although protists dominate the sea ice biomass, heterotrophic bacteria are also abundant. The sea ice ecosystem provides food for a host of animals, with crustaceans being the most conspicuous. Uneaten organic matter from the ice sinks through the water column and feeds benthic ecosystems. As sea ice extent declines, ice algae likely contribute a shrinking fraction of the total amount of organic matter produced in polar waters.

  20. Antarctic krill under sea ice: elevated abundance in a narrow band just south of ice edge.

    PubMed

    Brierley, Andrew S; Fernandes, Paul G; Brandon, Mark A; Armstrong, Frederick; Millard, Nicholas W; McPhail, Steven D; Stevenson, Peter; Pebody, Miles; Perrett, James; Squires, Mark; Bone, Douglas G; Griffiths, Gwyn

    2002-03-08

    We surveyed Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) under sea ice using the autonomous underwater vehicle Autosub-2. Krill were concentrated within a band under ice between 1 and 13 kilometers south of the ice edge. Within this band, krill densities were fivefold greater than that of open water. The under-ice environment has long been considered an important habitat for krill, but sampling difficulties have previously prevented direct observations under ice over the scale necessary for robust krill density estimation. Autosub-2 enabled us to make continuous high-resolution measurements of krill density under ice reaching 27 kilometers beyond the ice edge.

  1. Responses of Baltic Sea Ice and Open-Water Natural Bacterial Communities to Salinity Change

    PubMed Central

    Kaartokallio, Hermanni; Laamanen, Maria; Sivonen, Kaarina

    2005-01-01

    To investigate the responses of Baltic Sea wintertime bacterial communities to changing salinity (5 to 26 practical salinity units), an experimental study was conducted. Bacterial communities of Baltic seawater and sea ice from a coastal site in southwest Finland were used in two batch culture experiments run for 17 or 18 days at 0°C. Bacterial abundance, cell volume, and leucine and thymidine incorporation were measured during the experiments. The bacterial community structure was assessed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified partial 16S rRNA genes with sequencing of DGGE bands from initial communities and communities of day 10 or 13 of the experiment. The sea ice-derived bacterial community was metabolically more active than the open-water community at the start of the experiment. Ice-derived bacterial communities were able to adapt to salinity change with smaller effects on physiology and community structure, whereas in the open-water bacterial communities, the bacterial cell volume evolution, bacterial abundance, and community structure responses indicated the presence of salinity stress. The closest relatives for all eight partial 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained were either organisms found in polar sea ice and other cold habitats or those found in summertime Baltic seawater. All sequences except one were associated with the α- and γ-proteobacteria or the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides group. The overall physiological and community structure responses were parallel in ice-derived and open-water bacterial assemblages, which points to a linkage between community structure and physiology. These results support previous assumptions of the role of salinity fluctuation as a major selective factor shaping the sea ice bacterial community structure. PMID:16085826

  2. Influence of aeolian activities on the distribution of microbial abundance in glacier ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Y.; Li, X.-K.; Si, J.; Wu, G.-J.; Tian, L.-D.; Xiang, S.-R.

    2014-10-01

    Microorganisms are continuously blown onto the glacier snow, and thus the glacial depth profiles provide excellent archives of microbial communities and climatic and environmental changes. However, it is uncertain about how aeolian processes that cause climatic changes control the distribution of microorganisms in the glacier ice. In the present study, microbial density, stable isotopic ratios, 18O / 16O in the precipitation, and mineral particle concentrations along the glacial depth profiles were collected from ice cores from the Muztag Ata glacier and the Dunde ice cap. The ice core data showed that microbial abundance was often, but not always associated with high concentrations of particles. Results also revealed clear seasonal patterning with high microbial abundance occurring in both the cooling autumn and warming spring-summer seasons. Microbial comparisons among the neighbouring glaciers display a heterogeneous spatial pattern, with the highest microbial cell density in the glaciers lying adjacent to the central Asian deserts and lowest microbial density in the southwestern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. In conclusion, microbial data of the glaciers indicates the aeolian deposits of microorganisms in the glacier ice and that the spatial patterns of microorgansisms are related to differences in sources of microbial flux and intensity of aeolian activities in the current regions. The results strongly support our hypothesis of aeolian activities being the main agents controlling microbial load in the glacier ice.

  3. The abundance and distribution of water vapor in the Jovian troposphere as inferred from Voyager IRIS observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carlson, Barbara E.; Lacis, Andrew A.; Rossow, William B.

    1992-01-01

    The Voyager IRIS spectra of the Jovian North Equatorial Belt (NEB) hot spots are reanalyzed using a radiative transfer model which includes the full effects of anisotropic multiple scattering by clouds. The atmospheric model includes the three thermochemically predicted cloud layers, NH3, NH4SH, and H2O. Spectrally dependent cloud extinction is modeled using Mie theory and the refractive indices of NH3 ice, NH4SH ice, water, and H2O ice. The upper tropospheric temperature profile, gas abundances, height-dependent parahydrogen profile, and vertical distribution of NH3 cloud opacity are retrieved from an analysis of the far-infrared (180-1200/cm) IRIS observations. With these properties constrained, the 5-micron (1800-2300/cm) observations are analyzed to determine the atmospheric and cloud structure of the deeper atmosphere (P of greater than 1.5 bars). The results show that the abundance of water is at least 1.5 times solar with 2 times solar (0.00276 mixing ratio relative to H2) providing the best-fit to the Voyager IRIS hot spot observations.

  4. Interaction of ice binding proteins with ice, water and ions.

    PubMed

    Oude Vrielink, Anneloes S; Aloi, Antonio; Olijve, Luuk L C; Voets, Ilja K

    2016-03-19

    Ice binding proteins (IBPs) are produced by various cold-adapted organisms to protect their body tissues against freeze damage. First discovered in Antarctic fish living in shallow waters, IBPs were later found in insects, microorganisms, and plants. Despite great structural diversity, all IBPs adhere to growing ice crystals, which is essential for their extensive repertoire of biological functions. Some IBPs maintain liquid inclusions within ice or inhibit recrystallization of ice, while other types suppress freezing by blocking further ice growth. In contrast, ice nucleating proteins stimulate ice nucleation just below 0 °C. Despite huge commercial interest and major scientific breakthroughs, the precise working mechanism of IBPs has not yet been unraveled. In this review, the authors outline the state-of-the-art in experimental and theoretical IBP research and discuss future scientific challenges. The interaction of IBPs with ice, water and ions is examined, focusing in particular on ice growth inhibition mechanisms.

  5. 21 CFR 135.160 - Water ices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Water ices. 135.160 Section 135.160 Food and Drugs... CONSUMPTION FROZEN DESSERTS Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts § 135.160 Water ices. (a) Description. Water ices are the foods each of which is prepared from the same ingredients and in the same...

  6. 21 CFR 135.160 - Water ices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Water ices. 135.160 Section 135.160 Food and Drugs... CONSUMPTION FROZEN DESSERTS Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts § 135.160 Water ices. (a) Description. Water ices are the foods each of which is prepared from the same ingredients and in the same...

  7. 21 CFR 135.160 - Water ices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Water ices. 135.160 Section 135.160 Food and Drugs... CONSUMPTION FROZEN DESSERTS Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts § 135.160 Water ices. (a) Description. Water ices are the foods each of which is prepared from the same ingredients and in the same...

  8. 21 CFR 135.160 - Water ices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Water ices. 135.160 Section 135.160 Food and Drugs... CONSUMPTION FROZEN DESSERTS Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts § 135.160 Water ices. (a) Description. Water ices are the foods each of which is prepared from the same ingredients and in the same...

  9. 21 CFR 135.160 - Water ices.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Water ices. 135.160 Section 135.160 Food and Drugs... CONSUMPTION FROZEN DESSERTS Requirements for Specific Standardized Frozen Desserts § 135.160 Water ices. (a) Description. Water ices are the foods each of which is prepared from the same ingredients and in the same...

  10. Modeling CO, CO2, and H2O Ice Abundances in the Envelopes of Young Stellar Objects in the Magellanic Clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pauly, Tyler; Garrod, Robin T.

    2018-02-01

    Massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) in the Magellanic Clouds show infrared absorption features corresponding to significant abundances of CO, CO2, and H2O ice along the line of sight, with the relative abundances of these ices differing between the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. CO ice is not detected toward sources in the Small Magellanic Cloud, and upper limits put its relative abundance well below sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way. We use our gas-grain chemical code MAGICKAL, with multiple grain sizes and grain temperatures, and further expand it with a treatment for increased interstellar radiation field intensity to model the elevated dust temperatures observed in the MCs. We also adjust the elemental abundances used in the chemical models, guided by observations of H II regions in these metal-poor satellite galaxies. With a grid of models, we are able to reproduce the relative ice fractions observed in MC MYSOs, indicating that metal depletion and elevated grain temperature are important drivers of the MYSO envelope ice composition. Magellanic Cloud elemental abundances have a subgalactic C/O ratio, increasing H2O ice abundances relative to the other ices; elevated grain temperatures favor CO2 production over H2O and CO. The observed shortfall in CO in the Small Magellanic Cloud can be explained by a combination of reduced carbon abundance and increased grain temperatures. The models indicate that a large variation in radiation field strength is required to match the range of observed LMC abundances. CH3OH abundance is found to be enhanced in low-metallicity models, providing seed material for complex organic molecule formation in the Magellanic Clouds.

  11. Determination of Ice Water Path in Ice-over-Water Cloud Systems Using Combined MODIS and AMSR-E Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Huang, Jianping; Minnis, Patrick; Lin, Bing; Yi, Yuhong; Fan, T.-F.; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Ayers, J. K.

    2006-01-01

    To provide more accurate ice cloud properties for evaluating climate models, the updated version of multi-layered cloud retrieval system (MCRS) is used to retrieve ice water path (IWP) in ice-over-water cloud systems over global ocean using combined instrument data from the Aqua satellite. The liquid water path (LWP) of lower layer water clouds is estimated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) measurements. With the lower layer LWP known, the properties of the upper-level ice clouds are then derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer measurements by matching simulated radiances from a two-cloud layer radiative transfer model. Comparisons with single-layer cirrus systems and surface-based radar retrievals show that the MCRS can significantly improve the accuracy and reduce the over-estimation of optical depth and ice water path retrievals for ice over-water cloud systems. During the period from December 2004 through February 2005, the mean daytime ice cloud optical depth and IWP for overlapped ice-over-water clouds over ocean from Aqua are 7.6 and 146.4 gm(sup -2), respectively, significantly less than the initial single layer retrievals of 17.3 and 322.3 gm(sup -2). The mean IWP for actual single-layer clouds was 128.2 gm(sup -2).

  12. Export of Ice-Cavity Water from Pine Island Ice Shelf, West Antarctica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thurnherr, Andreas; Jacobs, Stanley; Dutrieux, Pierre

    2013-04-01

    Stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is sensitive to changes in melting at the bottom of floating ice shelves that form the seaward extensions of Antarctic glaciers flowing into the ocean. Not least because observations in the cavities beneath ice shelves are difficult, heat fluxes and melt rates have been inferred from oceanographic measurements obtained near the ice edge (calving fronts). Here, we report on a set of hydrographic and velocity data collected in early 2009 near the calving front of the Amundsen Sea's fast-moving and (until recently) accelerating Pine Island Glacier and its associated ice shelf. CTD profiles collected along the southern half of the meridionally-trending ice front show clear evidence for export of ice-cavity water. That water was carried in the upper ocean along the ice front by a southward current that is possibly related to a striking clockwise gyre that dominated the (summertime) upper-ocean circulation in Pine Island Bay. Signatures of ice-cavity water appear unrelated to current direction along most of the ice front, suggesting that cross-frontal exchange is dominated by temporal variability. However, repeated hydrographic and velocity measurements in a small "ice cove" at the southern end of the calving front show a persistent strong (mean velocity peaking near 0.5 ms-1) outflow of ice-cavity water in the upper 500 m. While surface features (boils) suggested upwelling from deep below the ice shelf, vertical velocity measurements reveal 1) that the mean upwelling within the confines of the cove was too weak to feed the observed outflow, and 2) that large high-frequency internal waves dominated the vertical motion of water inside the cove. These observations indicate that water exchange between the Pine Island Ice Shelf cavity and the Amundsen sea is strongly asymmetric with weak broad inflow at depth and concentrated surface-intensified outflow of melt-laden deep water at the southern edge of the calving front. The lack of

  13. Determination of ice water path in ice-over-water cloud systems using combined MODIS and AMSR-E measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huang, Jianping; Minnis, Patrick; Lin, Bing; Yi, Yuhong; Fan, T.-F.; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Ayers, J. K.

    2006-11-01

    To provide more accurate ice cloud microphysical properties, the multi-layered cloud retrieval system (MCRS) is used to retrieve ice water path (IWP) in ice-over-water cloud systems globally over oceans using combined instrument data from Aqua. The liquid water path (LWP) of lower-layer water clouds is estimated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR-E) measurements. The properties of the upper-level ice clouds are then derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements by matching simulated radiances from a two-cloud-layer radiative transfer model. The results show that the MCRS can significantly improve the accuracy and reduce the over-estimation of optical depth and IWP retrievals for ice-over-water cloud systems. The mean daytime ice cloud optical depth and IWP for overlapped ice-over-water clouds over oceans from Aqua are 7.6 and 146.4 gm-2, respectively, down from the initial single-layer retrievals of 17.3 and 322.3 gm-2. The mean IWP for actual single-layer clouds is 128.2 gm-2.

  14. The effect of ice-cream-scoop water on the hygiene of ice cream.

    PubMed Central

    Wilson, I. G.; Heaney, J. C.; Weatherup, S. T.

    1997-01-01

    A survey of unopened ice cream, ice cream in use, and ice-cream-scoop water (n = 91) was conducted to determine the effect of scoop water hygiene on the microbiological quality of ice cream. An aerobic plate count around 10(6) c.f.u. ml-1 was the modal value for scoop waters. Unopened ice creams generally had counts around 10(3)-10(4) c.f.u. ml-1 and this increased by one order of magnitude when in use. Many scoop waters had low coliform counts, but almost half contained > 100 c.f.u. ml-1. E. coli was isolated in 18% of ice creams in use, and in 10% of unopened ice creams. S. aureus was not detected in any sample. Statistical analysis showed strong associations between indicator organisms and increased counts in ice cream in use. EC guidelines for indicator organisms in ice cream were exceeded by up to 56% of samples. PMID:9287941

  15. The effect of ice-cream-scoop water on the hygiene of ice cream.

    PubMed

    Wilson, I G; Heaney, J C; Weatherup, S T

    1997-08-01

    A survey of unopened ice cream, ice cream in use, and ice-cream-scoop water (n = 91) was conducted to determine the effect of scoop water hygiene on the microbiological quality of ice cream. An aerobic plate count around 10(6) c.f.u. ml-1 was the modal value for scoop waters. Unopened ice creams generally had counts around 10(3)-10(4) c.f.u. ml-1 and this increased by one order of magnitude when in use. Many scoop waters had low coliform counts, but almost half contained > 100 c.f.u. ml-1. E. coli was isolated in 18% of ice creams in use, and in 10% of unopened ice creams. S. aureus was not detected in any sample. Statistical analysis showed strong associations between indicator organisms and increased counts in ice cream in use. EC guidelines for indicator organisms in ice cream were exceeded by up to 56% of samples.

  16. Airborne discrimination between ice and water - Application to the laser measurement of chlorophyll-in-water in a marginal ice zone

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hoge, Frank E.; Wright, C. Wayne; Swift, Robert N.; Yungel, James K.

    1989-01-01

    The concurrent active-passive measurement capabilities of the NASA Airborne Oceanographic Lidar have been used to (1) discriminate between ice and water in a large ice field within the Greenland Sea and (2) achieve the detection and measurement of chlorophyll-in-water by laser-induced and water-Raman-normalized pigment fluorescence. Passive upwelled radiances from sea ice are significantly stronger than those from the neighboring water, even when the optical receiver field-of-view is only partially filled with ice. Thus, weaker passive upwelled radiances, together with concurrently acquired laser-induced spectra, can rather confidently be assigned to the intervening water column. The laser-induced spectrum can then be processed using previously established methods to measure the chlorophyll-in-water concentration. Significant phytoplankton patchiness and elevated chlorophyll concentrations were found within the waters of the melting ice compared to ice-free regions just outside the ice field.

  17. Little ice bodies, huge ice lands, and the up-going of the big water body

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ultee, E.; Bassis, J. N.

    2017-12-01

    Ice moving out of the huge ice lands causes the big water body to go up. That can cause bad things to happen in places close to the big water body - the land might even disappear! If that happens, people living close to the big water body might lose their homes. Knowing how much ice will come out of the huge ice lands, and when, can help the world plan for the up-going of the big water body. We study the huge ice land closest to us. All around the edge of that huge ice land, there are smaller ice bodies that control how much ice makes it into the big water body. Most ways of studying the huge ice land with computers struggle to tell the computer about those little ice bodies, but we have found a new way. We will talk about our way of studying little ice bodies and how their moving brings about up-going of the big water.

  18. New measurements on water ice photodesorption and product formation under ultraviolet irradiation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cruz-Diaz, Gustavo A.; Martín-Doménech, Rafael; Moreno, Elena; Muñoz Caro, Guillermo M.; Chen, Yu-Jung

    2018-03-01

    The photodesorption of icy grain mantles has been claimed to be responsible for the abundance of gas-phase molecules towards cold regions. Being water a ubiquitous molecule, it is crucial to understand its role in photochemistry and its behaviour under an ultraviolet field. We report new measurements on the ultraviolet (UV) photodesorption of water ice and its H2, OH, and O2 photoproducts using a calibrated quadrupole mass spectrometer. Solid water was deposited under ultra-high-vacuum conditions and then UV-irradiated at various temperatures starting from 8 K with a microwave discharged hydrogen lamp. Deuterated water was used for confirmation of the results. We found a photodesorption yield of 1.3 × 10-3 molecules per incident photon for water and 0.7 × 10-3 molecules per incident photon for deuterated water at the lowest irradiation temperature, 8 K. The photodesorption yield per absorbed photon is given and comparison with astrophysical scenarios, where water ice photodesorption could account for the presence of gas-phase water towards cold regions in the absence of a thermal desorption process, is addressed.

  19. Abundances and Reactions of Sulfur Contianing Molecules in Interstellar Ices- Spectroscopic and Radiation-Chemical Investigations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hudson, Reggie

    Infrared (IR) telescopes, such as ISO, Spitzer, KAO, Keck, VLT, and IRTF, have revealed a rich variety of molecules trapped in interstellar ices. However, quantifying the abundances of these molecules has been difficult because reference IR data, such as band strengths and optical constants, often are poorly known. This scarcity of data has severe implications for the study of sulfur-containing molecules, such as OCS and SO2, since accurate molecular abundances are needed to address the missing-sulfur problem in interstellar space. The expected abundances of sulfur-containing species in dense molecular clouds are much higher than reported from telescopic observations, although the latter are based on laboratory data of questionable relevance, such as with liquids at room temperature compared to the 10 K ices of some interstellar regions. Exacerbating the problem is that few sulfur-containing molecules of any type have been examined in the laboratory under the necessary, relevant icy conditions. We propose to address and correct the problems associated with abundance determinations of interstellar sulfur-containing ices. We will combine several recent successful efforts from our laboratory and measure near- and mid-IR spectral intensities for ices containing SO2, OCS, H2S, CS2, CH3SH, and C2H5SH both in the presence and absence of H2O-ice. This work will be done at multiple temperatures and ice phases to generate reference IR spectra and band strengths, accompanied by refractive indices, and optical constants. Moreover, we will study the radiation chemistry of these molecules to determine their radiolytic half-lives (stabilities) and uncover product molecules that can become candidates for future searches and perhaps help better understand the missingsulfur problem. This proposal is a convergence of three lines of work in our laboratory: recent successes in deriving IR optical constants of interstellar molecular ices (Hudson et al. 2014a, 2014b), measurements of

  20. SYSTEMATIC VARIATIONS IN CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ICE ABUNDANCE RATIOS IN NEARBY GALAXIES FOUND WITH AKARI NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yamagishi, M.; Kaneda, H.; Ishihara, D.

    2015-07-01

    We report CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratios in seven nearby star-forming galaxies based on the AKARI near-infrared (2.5–5.0 μm) spectra. The CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratios show clear variations between 0.05 and 0.2 with the averaged value of 0.14 ± 0.01. The previous study on M82 revealed that the CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratios strongly correlate with the intensity ratios of the hydrogen recombination Brα line to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) 3.3 μm feature. In the present study, however, we find no correlation for the seven galaxies as a whole due to systematic differences in themore » relation between CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance and Brα/PAH 3.3 μm intensity ratios from galaxy to galaxy. This result suggests that there is another parameter that determines the CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratios in a galaxy in addition to the Brα/PAH 3.3 μm ratios. We find that the CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratios positively correlate with the specific star formation rates of the galaxies. From these results, we conclude that CO{sub 2}/H{sub 2}O ice abundance ratios tend to be high in young star-forming galaxies.« less

  1. Water quality observations of ice-covered, stagnant, eutrophic water bodies and analysis of influence of ice-covered period on water quality

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    sugihara, K.; Nakatsugawa, M.

    2013-12-01

    The water quality characteristics of ice-covered, stagnant, eutrophic water bodies have not been clarified because of insufficient observations. It has been pointed out that climate change has been shortening the duration of ice-cover; however, the influence of climate change on water quality has not been clarified. This study clarifies the water quality characteristics of stagnant, eutrophic water bodies that freeze in winter, based on our surveys and simulations, and examines how climate change may influence those characteristics. We made fixed-point observation using self-registering equipment and vertical water sampling. Self-registering equipment measured water temperature and dissolved oxygen(DO).vertical water sampling analyzed biological oxygen demand(BOD), total nitrogen(T-N), nitrate nitrogen(NO3-N), nitrite nitrogen(NO2-N), ammonium nitrogen(NH4-N), total phosphorus(TP), orthophosphoric phosphorus(PO4-P) and chlorophyll-a(Chl-a). The survey found that climate-change-related increases in water temperature were suppressed by ice covering the water area, which also blocked oxygen supply. It was also clarified that the bottom sediment consumed oxygen and turned the water layers anaerobic beginning from the bottom layer, and that nutrient salts eluted from the bottom sediment. The eluted nutrient salts were stored in the water body until the ice melted. The ice-covered period of water bodies has been shortening, a finding based on the analysis of weather and water quality data from 1998 to 2008. Climate change was surveyed as having caused decreases in nutrient salts concentration because of the shortened ice-covered period. However, BOD in spring showed a tendency to increase because of the proliferation of phytoplankton that was promoted by the climate-change-related increase in water temperature. To forecast the water quality by using these findings, particularly the influence of climate change, we constructed a water quality simulation model that

  2. Sensitivity of open-water ice growth and ice concentration evolution in a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shi, Xiaoxu; Lohmann, Gerrit

    2017-09-01

    A coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice model is applied to investigate to what degree the area-thickness distribution of new ice formed in open water affects the ice and ocean properties. Two sensitivity experiments are performed which modify the horizontal-to-vertical aspect ratio of open-water ice growth. The resulting changes in the Arctic sea-ice concentration strongly affect the surface albedo, the ocean heat release to the atmosphere, and the sea-ice production. The changes are further amplified through a positive feedback mechanism among the Arctic sea ice, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and the surface air temperature in the Arctic, as the Fram Strait sea ice import influences the freshwater budget in the North Atlantic Ocean. Anomalies in sea-ice transport lead to changes in sea surface properties of the North Atlantic and the strength of AMOC. For the Southern Ocean, the most pronounced change is a warming along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), owing to the interhemispheric bipolar seasaw linked to AMOC weakening. Another insight of this study lies on the improvement of our climate model. The ocean component FESOM is a newly developed ocean-sea ice model with an unstructured mesh and multi-resolution. We find that the subpolar sea-ice boundary in the Northern Hemisphere can be improved by tuning the process of open-water ice growth, which strongly influences the sea ice concentration in the marginal ice zone, the North Atlantic circulation, salinity and Arctic sea ice volume. Since the distribution of new ice on open water relies on many uncertain parameters and the knowledge of the detailed processes is currently too crude, it is a challenge to implement the processes realistically into models. Based on our sensitivity experiments, we conclude a pronounced uncertainty related to open-water sea ice growth which could significantly affect the climate system sensitivity.

  3. 0.2 to 10 keV electrons interacting with water ice: Radiolysis, sputtering, and sublimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Galli, A.; Vorburger, A.; Wurz, P.; Pommerol, A.; Cerubini, R.; Jost, B.; Poch, O.; Tulej, M.; Thomas, N.

    2018-06-01

    We present new laboratory experiments investigating various water ice samples, ranging from thin ice films to porous thick ice layers, that are irradiated with electrons. The molecules leaving the ice are monitored with a pressure gauge and a mass spectrometer. Most particles released from the ice are H2 and O2, the observed ratio of 2:1 is consistent with H2O being radiolysed into H2 + 1/2 O2 upon irradiation. H2O2 is likely a minor contribution of radiolysis, amounting to 0.001 ± 0.001 of the total gas release from the ice sample. Neither the physical properties of the ice, nor the energy, nor the electron impact angle have any obvious effect on the relative abundances of the radiolysis products. The absolute sputtering yield (i.e., the ratio of produced O2 or destroyed H2O per impacting electron) increases with energy until a few 100 eV. For higher energies up to 10 keV the yield remains roughly constant, once the saturation dose of the ice is reached. This indicates that ongoing irradiation eventually releases the radiolysis products from the water ice even for penetration depths of several micrometers.

  4. Floating ice-algal aggregates below melting arctic sea ice.

    PubMed

    Assmy, Philipp; Ehn, Jens K; Fernández-Méndez, Mar; Hop, Haakon; Katlein, Christian; Sundfjord, Arild; Bluhm, Katrin; Daase, Malin; Engel, Anja; Fransson, Agneta; Granskog, Mats A; Hudson, Stephen R; Kristiansen, Svein; Nicolaus, Marcel; Peeken, Ilka; Renner, Angelika H H; Spreen, Gunnar; Tatarek, Agnieszka; Wiktor, Jozef

    2013-01-01

    During two consecutive cruises to the Eastern Central Arctic in late summer 2012, we observed floating algal aggregates in the melt-water layer below and between melting ice floes of first-year pack ice. The macroscopic (1-15 cm in diameter) aggregates had a mucous consistency and were dominated by typical ice-associated pennate diatoms embedded within the mucous matrix. Aggregates maintained buoyancy and accumulated just above a strong pycnocline that separated meltwater and seawater layers. We were able, for the first time, to obtain quantitative abundance and biomass estimates of these aggregates. Although their biomass and production on a square metre basis was small compared to ice-algal blooms, the floating ice-algal aggregates supported high levels of biological activity on the scale of the individual aggregate. In addition they constituted a food source for the ice-associated fauna as revealed by pigments indicative of zooplankton grazing, high abundance of naked ciliates, and ice amphipods associated with them. During the Arctic melt season, these floating aggregates likely play an important ecological role in an otherwise impoverished near-surface sea ice environment. Our findings provide important observations and measurements of a unique aggregate-based habitat during the 2012 record sea ice minimum year.

  5. Floating Ice-Algal Aggregates below Melting Arctic Sea Ice

    PubMed Central

    Assmy, Philipp; Ehn, Jens K.; Fernández-Méndez, Mar; Hop, Haakon; Katlein, Christian; Sundfjord, Arild; Bluhm, Katrin; Daase, Malin; Engel, Anja; Fransson, Agneta; Granskog, Mats A.; Hudson, Stephen R.; Kristiansen, Svein; Nicolaus, Marcel; Peeken, Ilka; Renner, Angelika H. H.; Spreen, Gunnar; Tatarek, Agnieszka; Wiktor, Jozef

    2013-01-01

    During two consecutive cruises to the Eastern Central Arctic in late summer 2012, we observed floating algal aggregates in the melt-water layer below and between melting ice floes of first-year pack ice. The macroscopic (1-15 cm in diameter) aggregates had a mucous consistency and were dominated by typical ice-associated pennate diatoms embedded within the mucous matrix. Aggregates maintained buoyancy and accumulated just above a strong pycnocline that separated meltwater and seawater layers. We were able, for the first time, to obtain quantitative abundance and biomass estimates of these aggregates. Although their biomass and production on a square metre basis was small compared to ice-algal blooms, the floating ice-algal aggregates supported high levels of biological activity on the scale of the individual aggregate. In addition they constituted a food source for the ice-associated fauna as revealed by pigments indicative of zooplankton grazing, high abundance of naked ciliates, and ice amphipods associated with them. During the Arctic melt season, these floating aggregates likely play an important ecological role in an otherwise impoverished near-surface sea ice environment. Our findings provide important observations and measurements of a unique aggregate-based habitat during the 2012 record sea ice minimum year. PMID:24204642

  6. Structure of ice crystallized from supercooled water.

    PubMed

    Malkin, Tamsin L; Murray, Benjamin J; Brukhno, Andrey V; Anwar, Jamshed; Salzmann, Christoph G

    2012-01-24

    The freezing of water to ice is fundamentally important to fields as diverse as cloud formation to cryopreservation. At ambient conditions, ice is considered to exist in two crystalline forms: stable hexagonal ice and metastable cubic ice. Using X-ray diffraction data and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that ice that crystallizes homogeneously from supercooled water is neither of these phases. The resulting ice is disordered in one dimension and therefore possesses neither cubic nor hexagonal symmetry and is instead composed of randomly stacked layers of cubic and hexagonal sequences. We refer to this ice as stacking-disordered ice I. Stacking disorder and stacking faults have been reported earlier for metastable ice I, but only for ice crystallizing in mesopores and in samples recrystallized from high-pressure ice phases rather than in water droplets. Review of the literature reveals that almost all ice that has been identified as cubic ice in previous diffraction studies and generated in a variety of ways was most likely stacking-disordered ice I with varying degrees of stacking disorder. These findings highlight the need to reevaluate the physical and thermodynamic properties of this metastable ice as a function of the nature and extent of stacking disorder using well-characterized samples.

  7. Structure of ice crystallized from supercooled water

    PubMed Central

    Malkin, Tamsin L.; Murray, Benjamin J.; Brukhno, Andrey V.; Anwar, Jamshed; Salzmann, Christoph G.

    2012-01-01

    The freezing of water to ice is fundamentally important to fields as diverse as cloud formation to cryopreservation. At ambient conditions, ice is considered to exist in two crystalline forms: stable hexagonal ice and metastable cubic ice. Using X-ray diffraction data and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that ice that crystallizes homogeneously from supercooled water is neither of these phases. The resulting ice is disordered in one dimension and therefore possesses neither cubic nor hexagonal symmetry and is instead composed of randomly stacked layers of cubic and hexagonal sequences. We refer to this ice as stacking-disordered ice I. Stacking disorder and stacking faults have been reported earlier for metastable ice I, but only for ice crystallizing in mesopores and in samples recrystallized from high-pressure ice phases rather than in water droplets. Review of the literature reveals that almost all ice that has been identified as cubic ice in previous diffraction studies and generated in a variety of ways was most likely stacking-disordered ice I with varying degrees of stacking disorder. These findings highlight the need to reevaluate the physical and thermodynamic properties of this metastable ice as a function of the nature and extent of stacking disorder using well-characterized samples. PMID:22232652

  8. Water vapor, water-ice clouds, and dust in the North Polar Region

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tamppari, Leslie K.; Smith, Michael D.; Bass, Deborah S.; Hale, Amy S.

    2006-01-01

    The behavior of water vapor, water-ice and dust in the Martian atmosphere is important for understanding the overall Martian climate system, which is characterized by three main cycles: water, including water-ice, dust, and CO2. Understanding these cycles will lend insight into the behavior of the atmospheric dynamics, the atmosphere's ability to transport dust, water-ice, and vapor to different parts of the planet, and how that ability changes as a function of dust and water-ice loading.

  9. Water Accommodation on Bare and Coated Ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kong, Xiangrui

    2015-04-01

    A good understanding of water accommodation on ice surfaces is essential for quantitatively predicting the evolution of clouds, and therefore influences the effectiveness of climate models. However, the accommodation coefficient is poorly constrained within the literature where reported values vary by up to three orders of magnitude. In addition, the complexity of the chemical composition of the atmosphere plays an important role in ice phase behavior and dynamics. We employ an environmental molecular beam (EMB) technique to investigate molecular water interactions with bare and impurity coated ice at temperatures from 170 K to 200 K. In this work, we summarize results of water accommodation experiments on bare ice (Kong et al., 2014) and on ice coated by methanol (Thomson et al., 2013), butanol (Thomson et al., 2013) and acetic acid (Papagiannakopoulos et al., 2014), and compare those results with analogous experiments using hexanol and nitric acid coatings. Hexanol is chosen as a complementary chain alcohol to methanol and butanol, while nitric acid is a common inorganic compound in the atmosphere. The results show a strong negative temperature dependence of water accommodation on bare ice, which can be quantitatively described by a precursor model. Acidic adlayers tend to enhance water uptake indicating that the system kinetics are thoroughly changed compared to bare ice. Adsorbed alcohols influence the temperature dependence of the accommodation coefficient and water molecules generally spend less time on the surfaces before desorbing, although the measured accommodation coefficients remain high and comparable to bare ice for the investigated systems. We conclude that impurities can either enhance or restrict water uptake in ways that are influenced by several factors including temperature and type of adsorbant, with potential implications for the description of ice particle growth in the atmosphere. This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council and

  10. The ancient heritage of water ice in the solar system.

    PubMed

    Cleeves, L Ilsedore; Bergin, Edwin A; Alexander, Conel M O'D; Du, Fujun; Graninger, Dawn; Öberg, Karin I; Harries, Tim J

    2014-09-26

    Identifying the source of Earth's water is central to understanding the origins of life-fostering environments and to assessing the prevalence of such environments in space. Water throughout the solar system exhibits deuterium-to-hydrogen enrichments, a fossil relic of low-temperature, ion-derived chemistry within either (i) the parent molecular cloud or (ii) the solar nebula protoplanetary disk. Using a comprehensive treatment of disk ionization, we find that ion-driven deuterium pathways are inefficient, which curtails the disk's deuterated water formation and its viability as the sole source for the solar system's water. This finding implies that, if the solar system's formation was typical, abundant interstellar ices are available to all nascent planetary systems. Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  11. Microzooplankton abundance, composition and trophic interactions with phytoplankton and pelagic copepods in the ice-covered and open waters of the Eastern Fram Strait.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Franzè, G.; Lavrentyev, P.; Svensen, C.; Moore, F. B.

    2016-02-01

    Microzooplankton distribution and trophodynamics were examined in the Fram Strait in May and September 2014 as part of the Carbon Bridge multidisciplinary program focused on the biological effects of the Atlantic water transfer to the Arctic Ocean. Samples of microzooplankton were collected along three longitudinal transects from the slope to the ice edge and crossed the Western Spitzbergen Current (WSC). Integrated microzooplankton biomass in the upper 50 m ranged from 0.19 mg C m-2 above the slope to 3.22 mg C m-2 within WSC. Mixotrophic oligotrich ciliates from the genus Strombidium comprised most of the biomass and reached their subsurface maximum of 78,000 cells L-1 and 206 µg C L-1 in the Atlantic water. This is the highest volumetric biomass of microzooplankton reported from the polar seas so far. Large heterotrophic dinoflagellates Gyrodinium and Protoperidinium were also abundant at several stations. Microzooplankton herbivory rates measured in shipboard dilution experiments ranged from non-detectable within the bloom of Phaeocystis pouchetii to >100% of phytoplankton growth. Overall, the herbivory and production rates were nearly matched and increased from 0.2 d-1 in May to > 1.0 d-1 in September. The Atlantic copepod Calanus finmarchicus showed a clear preference for ciliates under the ice and obtained nearly 80% of its carbon-based diet from microzooplankton. These preliminary results support the idea that the microbial food web plays a central role in the marine carbon cycle in the Arctic.

  12. Dynamics of Ice/Water Confined in Nanoporous Alumina.

    PubMed

    Suzuki, Yasuhito; Steinhart, Martin; Graf, Robert; Butt, Hans-Jürgen; Floudas, George

    2015-11-19

    Dielectric (DS), IR spectroscopy, and (1)H MAS NMR are employed in the study of ice/water confined in nanoporous alumina with pore diameters ranging from 400 nm down to 25 nm. Within nanoporous alumina there is a transformation from heterogeneous nucleation of hexagonal ice in the larger pores to homogeneous nucleation of cubic ice in the smaller pores. DS and IR show excellent agreement in the temperature interval and pore size dependence of the transformation. DS further revealed two dynamic processes under confinement. The "fast" and "slow" processes with an Arrhenius temperature dependence are attributed to ice and supercooled water relaxation, respectively. The main relaxation process of ice under confinement ("slow" process) has an activation energy of 44 ± 2 kJ/mol. The latter is in agreement with the reported relaxation times and activation energy of cubic ice prepared following a completely different route (by pressure). (1)H MAS NMR provided new insight in the state of ice structures as well as of supercooled water. Under confinement, a layer of liquid-like water coexists with ice structures. In addition, both ice structures under confinement appear to be more ordered than bulk hexagonal ice. Supercooled water in the smaller pores is different from bulk water. It shows a shift of the signal toward higher chemical shift values which may suggest stronger hydrogen bonding between the water molecules or increasing interactions with the AAO walls.

  13. Analysis of water ice and water ice/soil mixtures using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy: application to Mars polar exploration.

    PubMed

    Arp, Zane A; Cremers, David A; Wiens, Roger C; Wayne, David M; Sallé, Béatrice; Maurice, Sylvestre

    2004-08-01

    Recently, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been developed for the elemental analysis of geological samples for application to space exploration. There is also interest in using the technique for the analysis of water ice and ice/dust mixtures located at the Mars polar regions. The application is a compact instrument for a lander or rover to the Martian poles to interrogate stratified layers of ice and dusts that contain a record of past geologic history, believed to date back several million years. Here we present results of a study of the use of LIBS for the analysis of water ice and ice/dust mixtures in situ and at short stand-off distances (< 6.5 m) using experimental parameters appropriate for a compact instrument. Characteristics of LIBS spectra of water ice, ice/soil mixtures, element detection limits, and the ability to ablate through ice samples to monitor subsurface dust deposits are discussed.

  14. PeV IceCube signals and Dark Matter relic abundance in modified cosmologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lambiase, G.; Mohanty, S.; Stabile, An.

    2018-04-01

    The discovery by the IceCube experiment of a high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux with energies of the order of PeV, has opened new scenarios in astroparticles physics. A possibility to explain this phenomenon is to consider the minimal models of Dark Matter (DM) decay, the 4-dimensional operator ˜ y_{α χ }\\overline{{L_{L_{α }}}} H χ , which is also able to generate the correct abundance of DM in the Universe. Assuming that the cosmological background evolves according to the standard cosmological model, it follows that the rate of DM decay Γ _χ ˜ |y_{α χ }|^2 needed to get the correct DM relic abundance (Γ _χ ˜ 10^{-58}) differs by many orders of magnitude with respect that one needed to explain the IceCube data (Γ _χ ˜ 10^{-25}), making the four-dimensional operator unsuitable. In this paper we show that assuming that the early Universe evolution is governed by a modified cosmology, the discrepancy between the two the DM decay rates can be reconciled, and both the IceCube neutrino rate and relic density can be explained in a minimal model.

  15. The structure of ice crystallized from supercooled water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murray, Benjamin

    2013-03-01

    The freezing of water to ice is fundamentally important to fields as diverse as cloud formation to cryopreservation. Traditionally ice was thought to exist in two well-crystalline forms: stable hexagonal ice and metastable cubic ice. It has recently been shown, using X-ray diffraction data, that ice which crystallizes homogeneously and heterogeneously from supercooled water is neither of these phases. The resulting ice is disordered in one dimension and therefore possesses neither cubic nor hexagonal symmetry and is instead composed of randomly stacked layers of cubic and hexagonal sequences. We refer to this ice as stacking-disordered ice I (ice Isd) . This result is consistent with a number of computational studies of the crystallization of water. Review of the literature reveals that almost all ice that has been identified as cubic ice in previous diffraction studies and generated in a variety of ways was most likely stacking-disordered ice I with varying degrees of stacking disorder, which raises the question of whether cubic ice exists. New data will be presented which shows significant stacking disorder (or stacking faults on the order of 1 in every 100 layers of ice Ih) in droplets which froze heterogeneously as warm as 257 K. The identification of stacking-disordered ice from heterogeneous ice nucleation supports the hypothesis that the structure of ice that initially crystallises from supercooled water is stacking-disordered ice I, independent of nucleation mechanism, but this ice can relax to the stable hexagonal phase subject to the kinetics of recrystallization. The formation and persistence of stacking disordered ice in the Earth's atmosphere will also be discussed. Funded by the European Research Council (FP7, 240449 ICE)

  16. Ice Particle Impact on Cloud Water Content Instrumentation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Emery, Edward F.; Miller, Dean R.; Plaskon, Stephen R.; Strapp, Walter; Lillie, Lyle

    2004-01-01

    Determining the total amount of water contained in an icing cloud necessitates the measurement of both the liquid droplets and ice particles. One commonly accepted method for measuring cloud water content utilizes a hot wire sensing element, which is maintained at a constant temperature. In this approach, the cloud water content is equated with the power required to keep the sense element at a constant temperature. This method inherently assumes that impinging cloud particles remain on the sensing element surface long enough to be evaporated. In the case of ice particles, this assumption requires that the particles do not bounce off the surface after impact. Recent tests aimed at characterizing ice particle impact on a thermally heated wing section, have raised questions about the validity of this assumption. Ice particles were observed to bounce off the heated wing section a very high percentage of the time. This result could have implications for Total Water Content sensors which are designed to capture ice particles, and thus do not account for bouncing or breakup of ice particles. Based on these results, a test was conducted to investigate ice particle impact on the sensing elements of the following hot-wire cloud water content probes: (1) Nevzorov Total Water Content (TWC)/Liquid Water Content (LWC) probe, (2) Science Engineering Associates TWC probe, and (3) Particle Measuring Systems King probe. Close-up video imaging was used to study ice particle impact on the sensing element of each probe. The measured water content from each probe was also determined for each cloud condition. This paper will present results from this investigation and attempt to evaluate the significance of ice particle impact on hot-wire cloud water content measurements.

  17. Dynamic Ice-Water Interactions Form Europa's Chaos Terrains

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blankenship, D. D.; Schmidt, B. E.; Patterson, G. W.; Schenk, P.

    2011-12-01

    Unique to the surface of Europa, chaos terrain is diagnostic of the properties and dynamics of its icy shell. We present a new model that suggests large melt lenses form within the shell and that water-ice interactions above and within these lenses drive the production of chaos. This model is consistent with key observations of chaos, predicts observables for future missions, and indicates that the surface is likely still active today[1]. We apply lessons from ice-water interaction in the terrestrial cryosphere to hypothesize a dynamic lense-collapse model to for Europa's chaos terrain. Chaos terrain morphology, like that of Conamara chaos and Thera Macula, suggests a four-phase formation [1]: 1) Surface deflection occurs as ice melts over ascending thermal plumes, as regularly occurs on Earth as subglacial volcanoes activate. The same process can occur at Europa if thermal plumes cause pressure melt as they cross ice-impurity eutectics. 2) Resulting hydraulic gradients and driving forces produce a sealed, pressurized melt lense, akin to the hydraulic sealing of subglacial caldera lakes. On Europa, the water cannot escape the lense due to the horizontally continuous ice shell. 3) Extension of the brittle ice lid above the lense opens cracks, allowing for the ice to be hydrofractured by pressurized water. Fracture, brine injection and percolation within the ice and possible iceberg toppling produces ice-melange-like granular matrix material. 4) Refreezing of the melt lense and brine-filled pores and cracks within the matrix results in raised chaos. Brine soaking and injection concentrates the ice in brines and adds water volume to the shell. As this englacial water freezes, the now water-filled ice will expand, not unlike the process of forming pingos and other "expansion ice" phenomena on Earth. The refreezing can raise the surface and create the oft-observed matrix "domes" In this presentation, we describe how catastrophic ice-water interactions on Earth have

  18. Radiation Effects in Hydrogen-Laden Porous Water Ice Films: Implications for Interstellar Ices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raut, Ujjwal; Baragiola, Raul; Mitchell, Emma; Shi, Jianming

    H _{2} molar remains trapped in the ice even upon removal of ambient gas-phase H _{2}, and is stable to 170 K, where the ice film desorbs. We will describe the dependence of net loss of adsorbed hydrogen on important parameters such as ice film thickness and the ratio of ion flux (f) to H _{2} flux (F _{H}). Both fluxes are higher by orders of magnitude than interstellar values. However, the information obtained from these experiments, especially the behavior in the limit of low flux (f << F _{H}) should be relevant to the interstellar case. Furthermore, we will discuss the effects of the presence of H _{2} in radiation chemistry of water ice, in particular, the observed suppression in H _{2}O _{2} synthesis. References: 1.Tielens, A.G.G.M., The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium. 2005: Cambridge University Press. 2.Webber, W.R. and S.M. Yushak, A measurement of the energy spectra and relative abundance of the cosmic-ray H and He isotopes over a broad energy range. Astrophysical Journal, 1983. 275: p. 391-404. 3.Shi, J., B.D. Teolis, and R.A. Baragiola, Irradiation-enhanced adsorption and trapping of O2 on nanoporous water ice. Physical Review B, 2009. 79(23): p. 235422. 4.Raut, U., et al., Compaction of microporous amorphous solid water by ion irradiation. Journal of Chemical Physics, 2007. 126(24): p. 244511.

  19. Mezozooplankton Beneath the Summer Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: Abundance, Species Composition, and DMSP content

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Ross Sea Phaeocystis antarctica bloom contributes to a summer increase in under-ice planton biomass in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Due to difficulties of under-ice sampling, information on the mesozooplankton in McMurdo Sound is limited. We measured the abundance of mesooopl...

  20. The Radiative Effects of Martian Water Ice Clouds on the Local Atmospheric Temperature Profile

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Colaprete, Anthony; Toon, Owen B.

    2000-01-01

    Mars Pathfinder made numerous discoveries, one of which was a deep temperature inversion that extended from about 15 km down to 8 km above the surface. It has been suggested by Haberle et al. (1999. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 8957-8974.) that radiative cooling by a water ice cloud may generate such an inversion. Clouds can strongly affect the local air temperature due to their ability to radiate efficiently in the infrared and due to the low air mass of the martian atmosphere, which allows the temperature to change during the relatively short lifetime of a cloud. We utilize a time-dependent microphysical aerosol model coupled to a radiative--convective model to explore the effects water ice clouds have on the local martian temperature profile. We constrain the dust and water vapor abundance using data from the Viking Missions and Mars Pathfinder. Water t ice clouds with visible optical depths of r > 0.1 form readily in these simulations. These clouds alter the local air temperature directly, through infrared cooling, and indirectly, by redistributing atmospheric dust. With this model we are able to reproduce the temperature inversions observed by Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global t Surveyor 2000 Academic Press

  1. Reconciling LCROSS and Orbital Neutron Water Abundance Estimates in Cabeus Crater

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Elphic, Richard; Teodoro, Luis F.; Eke, Vincent R.; Paige, David A.; Siegler, Matthew A.; Colaprete, Anthony

    2011-01-01

    The Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer (LPNS) first revealed Cabeus crater (84.9 deg S, 35.5degW) as having the highest inferred hydrogen on the Moon. Because of the broad LPNS footprint (approximately 40 km FWHM), the apparent peak water-equivalent hydrogen (WEH) concentration is only approximately 0.25 wt%, but could be much higher in smaller areas than the spectrometer footprint. Earlier image reconstruction work suggested that areas within permanent shadow have abundances approximately 1 wt% WEH. However, the LCROSS impact yielded total water estimates, ice plus vapor, of between 3 and 10 wt%. The large disagreement between LCROSS and apparent orbital values imply that either the ice is buried, by perhaps as much as 50 to 100 cm; or the ice distribution within Cabeus is spatially inhomogeneous, or both. Modeling reveals that the areal extent of a "shallow permafrost zone" is far greater than the area of permanent shadow. Ice can be virtually stable for billions of years within a few tens of centimeters of the surface in these areas. However, the LCROSS impact took place in an area of permanent shadow. If stably-trapped volatiles can be found in locales that receive occasional, oblique sunlight, landed missions may target these sites and eventual resource exploitation may be done more easily. Are orbital neutron data consistent with areally-extensive, volatile-rich cold traps? Orbital epithermal neutron data over the northern half of Cabeus (near the LCROSS impact site) are consistent with 0.2 wt% WEH or less in the "permafrost zone" near the crater. On the other hand, pixon reconstructions that confine the hydrogen enhancements to permanent shadow result in higher abundance estimates -- around 1 wt% if homogeneously mixed. But if the PSR abundance is increased to 10 wt%, consistent with the sum of all H-bearing compounds seen by LCROSS, a much larger-than-observed reduction in neutron count rate would be seen from orbit. It is likely that volatiles are

  2. New porous water ice metastable at atmospheric pressure obtained by emptying a hydrogen-filled ice

    PubMed Central

    del Rosso, Leonardo; Celli, Milva; Ulivi, Lorenzo

    2016-01-01

    The properties of some forms of water ice reserve still intriguing surprises. Besides the several stable or metastable phases of pure ice, solid mixtures of water with gases are precursors of other ices, as in some cases they may be emptied, leaving a metastable hydrogen-bound water structure. We present here the first characterization of a new form of ice, obtained from the crystalline solid compound of water and molecular hydrogen called C0-structure filled ice. By means of Raman spectroscopy, we measure the hydrogen release at different temperatures and succeed in rapidly removing all the hydrogen molecules, obtaining a new form of ice (ice XVII). Its structure is determined by means of neutron diffraction measurements. Of paramount interest is that the emptied crystal can adsorb again hydrogen and release it repeatedly, showing a temperature-dependent hysteresis. PMID:27819265

  3. 21 CFR 1250.86 - Water for making ice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Water for making ice. 1250.86 Section 1250.86 Food... SANITATION Sanitation Facilities and Conditions on Vessels § 1250.86 Water for making ice. Only potable water shall be piped into a freezer for making ice for drinking and culinary purposes. ...

  4. Physical Chemical Controls of Methane and other Hydrocarbon gases in Outer Solar System Water-Ice Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Osegovic, J. P.; Max, M. D.

    2012-12-01

    Saturn's moon Enceladus appear to have liquid water under its thin icy surface that has venting water and complex hydrocarbons. Jupiter's moon Europa is locked under a very thick layer of surface ice. Because Saturn's moon Titan contains abundant hydrocarbon gasses and liquids and both Saturn and Jupiter contain abundant hydrocarbon gases, it is likely that Europa also may have significant quantities of hydrocarbon gases in their water-ice systems. Both of these moons have the potential for life. We have begun to explore the impact that gas hydrate, which is a crystalline material composed of water and gas molecules, has on the availability of liquid water on a planet's surface: what conditions need to be present to initiate hydrate formation from a primordial selection of gases, salts, and water, how isolated hydrate systems evolve under the condition of mass transfer from ex-hydrate stability conditions to pro-hydrate stability conditions, the timespan of conditions that hydrate formation can host liquid solutions in an otherwise cooling regime; and the impact that additional chemistry, such as primitive chemosynthesis, may have on the sequestered hydrocarbon gases in hydrate. The analog for gas hydrate on these moons is the Permafrost hydrate system of Earth. Gas hydrate and water ice are stable in a compound cryosphere with ice extending downward from cold surface conditions to about the 273 K isotherm. Hydrate, depending on the mixture of gases in it, is stable from some depth below the surface to some isotherm that could be considerably in excess of 273 K. Salinity may strongly affect stability conditions. In order to estimate the thickness of the gas hydrate stability zone and its effect on 'planetary' heat flow, we model heat production as a function of mass flow. Variables are gravity, ice thickness, temperature of the surrounding medium (space, ice, and water), the thickness of the "ocean", the and the thermophysical properties of the gas being

  5. Water Ice on Mercury

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2015-04-16

    This orthographic projection view from NASA MESSENGER spacecraft provides a look at Mercury north polar region. The yellow regions in many of the craters mark locations that show evidence for water ice, as detected by Earth-based radar observations from Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. MESSENGER has collected compelling new evidence that the deposits are indeed water ice, including imaging within the permanently shaded interiors of some of the craters, such as Prokofiev and Fuller. Instrument: Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) Arecibo Radar Image: In yellow (Harmon et al., 2011, Icarus 211, 37-50) http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19411

  6. Thermal desorption of formamide and methylamine from graphite and amorphous water ice surfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chaabouni, H.; Diana, S.; Nguyen, T.; Dulieu, F.

    2018-04-01

    Context. Formamide (NH2CHO) and methylamine (CH3NH2) are known to be the most abundant amine-containing molecules in many astrophysical environments. The presence of these molecules in the gas phase may result from thermal desorption of interstellar ices. Aims: The aim of this work is to determine the values of the desorption energies of formamide and methylamine from analogues of interstellar dust grain surfaces and to understand their interaction with water ice. Methods: Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments of formamide and methylamine ices were performed in the sub-monolayer and monolayer regimes on graphite (HOPG) and non-porous amorphous solid water (np-ASW) ice surfaces at temperatures 40-240 K. The desorption energy distributions of these two molecules were calculated from TPD measurements using a set of independent Polanyi-Wigner equations. Results: The maximum of the desorption of formamide from both graphite and ASW ice surfaces occurs at 176 K after the desorption of H2O molecules, whereas the desorption profile of methylamine depends strongly on the substrate. Solid methylamine starts to desorb below 100 K from the graphite surface. Its desorption from the water ice surface occurs after 120 K and stops during the water ice sublimation around 150 K. It continues to desorb from the graphite surface at temperatures higher than160 K. Conclusions: More than 95% of solid NH2CHO diffuses through the np-ASW ice surface towards the graphitic substrate and is released into the gas phase with a desorption energy distribution Edes = 7460-9380 K, which is measured with the best-fit pre-exponential factor A = 1018 s-1. However, the desorption energy distribution of methylamine from the np-ASW ice surface (Edes = 3850-8420 K) is measured with the best-fit pre-exponential factor A = 1012 s-1. A fraction of solid methylamine monolayer of roughly 0.15 diffuses through the water ice surface towards the HOPG substrate. This small amount of methylamine

  7. Absolute Infrared Intensities and Interstellar Ice Abundances- From Neutrals to Ions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gerakines, Perry

    Infrared (IR) telescopes, such as Spitzer and SOFIA, have revealed a rich variety of chemical species trapped in interstellar ices. However, quantifying the abundances of these species has been difficult because some molecules, such as formaldehyde (H2CO), and some ions, such as ammonium (NH4+), have poorly-known IR optical parameters, such as band strengths and optical constants. In the case of NH4+, the most widely used band-intensity values are from a mere two measurements published over a decade ago. Those two experiments cannot be repeated or checked as the original publication provided no information on reaction temperature, heating rate, spectral resolution, and so forth, and the two authors are no longer active in the field. Moreover, neither kinetic data nor statistics on the two measurements were provided, clearly an unsatisfactory situation. Exacerbating the problem is that NH4+ is sometimes used as a check on the IR spectral intensities of other ions, such as OCN- (cyanate), which has its own checkered past. We propose to correct these problems associated with abundance determinations of selected interstellar ices. We will combine two recent successful efforts from our laboratory and measure band intensities for NH4+ and OCN-, as well as HCOO- (formate). To unravel the interstellar formate band requires that we also properly determine its spectral baseline to distinguish from co-absorbing species, primarily formaldehyde (H2CO). Since the latter also has, at best, poorly-determined IR absolute intensities, we will measure them at multiple temperatures and ice phases for this project. This work will build on our recent success in deriving optical constants from IR spectra for interstellar hydrocarbon and nitrile ices (Hudson et al., 2014a, 2014b), and in generating NH4+ in situ for a study of Jupiter's atmosphere (Loeffler and Hudson, 2015). As a bonus, the proposed measurements also will enable the determination of band-strengths for such ions as CN-, NO

  8. Bacterioplankton in antarctic ocean waters during late austral winter: abundance, frequency of dividing cells, and estimates of production.

    PubMed

    Hanson, R B; Shafer, D; Ryan, T; Pope, D H; Lowery, H K

    1983-05-01

    Bacterioplankton productivity in Antarctic waters of the eastern South Pacific Ocean and Drake Passage was estimated by direct counts and frequency of dividing cells (FDC). Total bacterioplankton assemblages were enumerated by epifluorescent microscopy. The experimentally determined relationship between in situ FDC and the potential instantaneous growth rate constant (mu) is best described by the regression equation ln mu = 0.081 FDC - 3.73. In the eastern South Pacific Ocean, bacterioplankton abundance (2 x 10 to 3.5 x 10 cells per ml) and FDC (11%) were highest at the Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence). North of the Subantarctic Front, abundance and FDC were between 1 x 10 to 2 x 10 cells per ml and 3 to 5%, respectively, and were vertically homogeneous to a depth of 600 m. In Drake Passage, abundance (10 x 10 cells per ml) and FDC (16%) were highest in waters south of the Polar Front and near the sea ice. Subantarctic waters in Drake Passage contained 4 x 10 cells per ml with 4 to 5% FDC. Instantaneous growth rate constants ranged between 0.029 and 0.088 h. Using estimates of potential mu and measured standing stocks, we estimated productivity to range from 0.62 mug of C per liter . day in the eastern South Pacific Ocean to 17.1 mug of C per liter . day in the Drake Passage near the sea ice.

  9. Multi-epoch Detections of Water Ice Absorption in Edge-on Disks around Herbig Ae Stars: PDS 144N and PDS 453

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Terada, Hiroshi; Tokunaga, Alan T.

    2017-01-01

    We report the multi-epoch detections of water ice in 2.8-4.2 μ {{m}} spectra of two Herbig Ae stars, PDS 144N (A2 IVe) and PDS 453 (F2 Ve), which have an edge-on circumstellar disk. The detected water ice absorption is found to originate from their protoplanetary disks. The spectra show a relatively shallow absorption of water ice of around 3.1 μ {{m}} for both objects. The optical depths of the water ice absorption are ˜0.1 and ˜0.2 for PDS 144N and PDS 453, respectively. Compared to the water ice previously detected in low-mass young stellar objects with an edge-on disk with a similar inclination angle, these optical depths are significantly lower. It suggests that stronger UV radiation from the central stars effectively decreases the water ice abundance around the Herbig Ae stars through photodesorption. The water ice absorption in PDS 453 shows a possible variation of the feature among the six observing epochs. This variation could be due to a change of absorption materials passing through our line of sight to the central star. The overall profile of the water ice absorption in PDS 453 is quite similar to the absorption previously reported in the edge-on disk object d216-0939, and this unique profile may be seen only at a high inclination angle in the range of 76°-80°.

  10. Investigation of surface water behavior during glaze ice accretion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hansman, R. John, Jr.; Turnock, Stephen R.

    1990-01-01

    A series of experimental investigations that focused on isolating the primary factors that control the behavior of unfrozen surface water during glaze ice accretion were conducted. Detailed microvideo observations were made of glaze ice accretions on 2.54 cm diam cylinders in a closed-loop refrigerated wind tunnel. Distinct zones of surface water behavior were observed; a smooth wet zone in the stagnation region with a uniform water film, a rough zone where surface tension effects caused coalescence of surface water into stationary beads, and a zone where surface water ran back as rivulets. The location of the transition from the smooth to the rough zone was found to migrate towards the stagnation point with time. Comparative tests were conducted to study the effect of the substrate thermal and roughness properties on ice accretion. The importance of surface water behavior was evaluated by the addition of a surface tension reducing agent to the icing tunnel water supply, which significantly altered the accreted glaze ice shape. Measurements were made to determine the contact angle behavior of water droplets on ice. A simple multizone modification to current glaze ice accretion models was proposed to include the observed surface roughness behavior.

  11. Retrieval of water vapor column abundance and aerosol properties from ChemCam passive sky spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McConnochie, Timothy H.; Smith, Michael D.; Wolff, Michael J.; Bender, Steve; Lemmon, Mark; Wiens, Roger C.; Maurice, Sylvestre; Gasnault, Olivier; Lasue, Jeremie; Meslin, Pierre-Yves; Harri, Ari-Matti; Genzer, Maria; Kemppinen, Osku; Martínez, Germán M.; DeFlores, Lauren; Blaney, Diana; Johnson, Jeffrey R.; Bell, James F.

    2018-06-01

    We derive water vapor column abundances and aerosol properties from Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ChemCam passive mode observations of scattered sky light. This paper covers the methodology and initial results for water vapor and also provides preliminary results for aerosols. The data set presented here includes the results of 113 observations spanning from Mars Year 31 Ls = 291° (March 30, 2013) to Mars Year 33 Ls= 127° (March 24, 2016). Each ChemCam passive sky observation acquires spectra at two different elevation angles. We fit these spectra with a discrete-ordinates multiple scattering radiative transfer model, using the correlated-k approximation for gas absorption bands. The retrieval proceeds by first fitting the continuum of the ratio of the two elevation angles to solve for aerosol properties, and then fitting the continuum-removed ratio to solve for gas abundances. The final step of the retrieval makes use of the observed CO2 absorptions and the known CO2 abundance to correct the retrieved water vapor abundance for the effects of the vertical distribution of scattering aerosols and to derive an aerosol scale height parameter. Our water vapor results give water vapor column abundance with a precision of ±0.6 precipitable microns and systematic errors no larger than ±0.3 precipitable microns, assuming uniform vertical mixing. The ChemCam-retrieved water abundances show, with only a few exceptions, the same seasonal behavior and the same timing of seasonal minima and maxima as the TES, CRISM, and REMS-H data sets that we compare them to. However ChemCam-retrieved water abundances are generally lower than zonal and regional scale from-orbit water vapor data, while at the same time being significantly larger than pre-dawn REMS-H abundances. Pending further analysis of REMS-H volume mixing ratio uncertainties, the differences between ChemCam and REMS-H pre-dawn mixing ratios appear to be much too large to be explained by large scale circulations and thus

  12. Sea-ice eukaryotes of the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea, and evidence for herbivory on weakly shade-adapted ice algae.

    PubMed

    Majaneva, Markus; Blomster, Jaanika; Müller, Susann; Autio, Riitta; Majaneva, Sanna; Hyytiäinen, Kirsi; Nagai, Satoshi; Rintala, Janne-Markus

    2017-02-01

    To determine community composition and physiological status of early spring sea-ice organisms, we collected sea-ice, slush and under-ice water samples from the Baltic Sea. We combined light microscopy, HPLC pigment analysis and pyrosequencing, and related the biomass and physiological status of sea-ice algae with the protistan community composition in a new way in the area. In terms of biomass, centric diatoms including a distinct Melosira arctica bloom in the upper intermediate section of the fast ice, dinoflagellates, euglenoids and the cyanobacterium Aphanizomenon sp. predominated in the sea-ice sections and unidentified flagellates in the slush. Based on pigment analyses, the ice-algal communities showed no adjusted photosynthetic pigment pools throughout the sea ice, and the bottom-ice communities were not shade-adapted. The sea ice included more characteristic phototrophic taxa (49%) than did slush (18%) and under-ice water (37%). Cercozoans and ciliates were the richest taxon groups, and the differences among the communities arose mainly from the various phagotrophic protistan taxa inhabiting the communities. The presence of pheophytin a coincided with an elevated ciliate biomass and read abundance in the drift ice and with a high Eurytemora affinis read abundance in the pack ice, indicating that ciliates and Eurytemora affinis were grazing on algae. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  13. Origin and abundance of water in carbonaceous asteroids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marrocchi, Yves; Bekaert, David V.; Piani, Laurette

    2018-01-01

    The origin and abundance of water accreted by carbonaceous asteroids remains underconstrained, but would provide important information on the dynamic of the protoplanetary disk. Here we report the in situ oxygen isotopic compositions of aqueously formed fayalite grains in the Kaba and Mokoia CV chondrites. CV chondrite bulk, matrix and fayalite O-isotopic compositions define the mass-independent continuous trend (δ17O = 0.84 ± 0.03 × δ18O - 4.25 ± 0.1), which shows that the main process controlling the O-isotopic composition of the CV chondrite parent body is related to isotopic exchange between 16O-rich anhydrous silicates and 17O- and 18O-rich fluid. Similar isotopic behaviors observed in CM, CR and CO chondrites demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of O-isotopic exchange as the main physical process in establishing the O-isotopic features of carbonaceous chondrites, regardless of their alteration degree. Based on these results, we developed a new approach to estimate the abundance of water accreted by carbonaceous chondrites (quantified by the water/rock ratio) with CM (0.3-0.4) ≥ CR (0.1-0.4) ≥ CV (0.1-0.2) > CO (0.01-0.10). The low water/rock ratios and the O-isotopic characteristics of secondary minerals in carbonaceous chondrites indicate they (i) formed in the main asteroid belt and (ii) accreted a locally derived (inner Solar System) water formed near the snowline by condensation from the gas phase. Such results imply low influx of D- and 17O- and 18O-rich water ice grains from the outer part of the Solar System. The latter is likely due to the presence of a Jupiter-induced gap in the protoplanetary disk that limited the inward drift of outer Solar System material at the exception of particles with size lower than 150 μm such as presolar grains. Among carbonaceous chondrites, CV chondrites show O-isotopic features suggesting potential contribution of 17-18O-rich water that may be related to their older accretion relative to other hydrated

  14. Water freezing and ice melting

    DOE PAGES

    Malolepsza, Edyta; Keyes, Tom

    2015-10-12

    The generalized replica exchange method (gREM) is designed to sample states with coexisting phases and thereby to describe strong first order phase transitions. The isobaric MD version of the gREM is presented and applied to freezing of liquid water, and melting of hexagonal and cubic ice. It is confirmed that coexisting states are well sampled. The statistical temperature as a function of enthalpy, T S(H), is obtained. Hysteresis between freezing and melting is observed and discussed. The entropic analysis of phase transitions is applied and equilibrium transition temperatures, latent heats, and surface tensions are obtained for hexagonal ice↔liquid and cubicmore » ice↔liquid, with excellent agreement with published values. A new method is given to assign water molecules among various symmetry types. As a result, pathways for water freezing, ultimately leading to hexagonal ice, are found to contain intermediate layered structures built from hexagonal and cubic ice.« less

  15. Geological Evidence for Recent Ice Ages on Mars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Head, J. W.; Mustard, J. F.; Kreslavsky, M. A.; Milliken, R. E.; Marchant, D. R.

    2003-12-01

    A primary cause of ice ages on Earth is orbital forcing from variations in orbital parameters of the planet. On Mars such variations are known to be much more extreme. Recent exploration of Mars has revealed abundant water ice in the near-surface at high latitudes in both hemispheres. We outline evidence that these near-surface, water-ice rich mantling deposits represent a mixture of ice and dust that is layered, meters thick, and latitude dependent. These units were formed during a geologically recent major martian ice age, and were emplaced in response to the changing stability of water ice and dust on the surface during variations in orbital parameters. Evidence for these units include a smoothing of topography at subkilometer baselines from about 30o north and south latitudes to the poles, a distinctive dissected texture in MOC images in the +/-30o-60o latitude band, latitude-dependent sets of topographic characteristics and morphologic features (e.g., polygons, 'basketball' terrain texture, gullies, viscous flow features), and hydrogen concentrations consistent with the presence of abundant ice at shallow depths above 60o latitude. The most equatorward extent of these ice-rich deposits was emplaced down to latitudes equivalent to Saudi Arabia and the southern United States on Earth during the last major martian ice age, probably about 0.4-2.1 million years ago. Mars is currently in an inter-ice age period and the ice-rich deposits are presently undergoing reworking, degradation and retreat in response to the current stability relations of near-surface ice. Unlike Earth, martian ice ages are characterized by warmer climates in the polar regions and the enhanced role of atmospheric water ice and dust transport and deposition to produce widespread and relatively evenly distributed smooth deposits at mid-latitudes during obliquity maxima.

  16. Searching for Water Ice at the Lunar North Pole Using High-Resolution Images and Radar

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mitchell, J. L.; Lawrence, S. J.; Robinson, M. S.; Speyerer, E. J.; Denevi, B. W.

    2017-01-01

    Permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles are potential reservoirs of frozen volatiles, and are therefore high-priority exploration targets. PSRs trap water and other volatiles because their annual maximum temperatures (40-100K) are lower than the sublimation temperatures of these species (i.e. H2O approx.104K). Previous studies using various remote sensing techniques have not been able to definitively characterize the distribution or abundance of ice in lunar PSRs. The purpose of this study is to search for signs of ice in PSRs using two complimentary remote sensing techniques: radar and visible images.

  17. Interior ice/mineral/water interface dynamics (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rempel, A. W.

    2009-12-01

    The search for life begins with the search for liquid water. In our solar system, persistent water reservoirs are invariably found together with ice. On Earth, organisms have evolved to thrive at sub-zero temperatures in ice-bound habitats that have numerous analogues throughout our solar system and beyond. To assess the potential for life requires a thorough investigation of the dynamic interactions within these deposits. Well-established thermodynamic principles govern the stable coexistence of premelted liquid at the interface between ice and other minerals. Foreign constituents are efficiently rejected from the ice crystal lattice and are concentrated in residual liquid regions instead. This gains added importance with the recognition that the most fundamental requirements for survival include a food source and the removal of waste. This talk reviews the astrobiological implications of the availability, behavior, and properties of liquid water in association with the interiors of icy bodies and ice-mineral interfacial regions.

  18. Polypentagonal ice-like water networks emerge solely in an activity-improved variant of ice-binding protein.

    PubMed

    Mahatabuddin, Sheikh; Fukami, Daichi; Arai, Tatsuya; Nishimiya, Yoshiyuki; Shimizu, Rumi; Shibazaki, Chie; Kondo, Hidemasa; Adachi, Motoyasu; Tsuda, Sakae

    2018-05-22

    Polypentagonal water networks were recently observed in a protein capable of binding to ice crystals, or ice-binding protein (IBP). To examine such water networks and clarify their role in ice-binding, we determined X-ray crystal structures of a 65-residue defective isoform of a Zoarcidae -derived IBP (wild type, WT) and its five single mutants (A20L, A20G, A20T, A20V, and A20I). Polypentagonal water networks composed of ∼50 semiclathrate waters were observed solely on the strongest A20I mutant, which appeared to include a tetrahedral water cluster exhibiting a perfect position match to the [Formula: see text] first prism plane of a single ice crystal. Inclusion of another symmetrical water cluster in the polypentagonal network showed a perfect complementarity to the waters constructing the [Formula: see text] pyramidal ice plane. The order of ice-binding strength was A20L < A20G < WT < A20T < A20V < A20I, where the top three mutants capable of binding to the first prism and the pyramidal ice planes commonly contained a bifurcated γ-CH 3 group. These results suggest that a fine-tuning of the surface of Zoarcidae -derived IBP assisted by a side-chain group regulates the holding property of its polypentagonal water network, the function of which is to freeze the host protein to specific ice planes. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

  19. Interannual Variability of Water Ice Clouds at Gale Crater

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martinez, G.; Giuranna, M.; McConnochie, T. H.; Tamppari, L.; Smith, M. D.; Vicente-Retortillo, Á.; Renno, N. O.; Kloos, J. L.; Moores, J. E.; Guzewich, S.

    2017-12-01

    The Aphelion Cloud Belt (ACB) is a water ice cloud band that encircles the planet longitudinally at latitudes ranging from about 10°S to 30°N during the northern spring and summer (aphelion season). The ACB has been studied extensively using satellite observations over the last two decades [1], showing little interannual variability from MY 24 to 34. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission has completed more than 1750 sols of measurements at Gale crater (4.5°S), from Ls 155° in MY 31 to Ls 33° in MY 34. Interestingly, MSL results from various instruments indicate that the ACB produces significant interannual variability at Gale crater during the aphelion season. In particular, near-noon retrievals of water ice opacity by the ChemCam instrument indicate an increase in water ice opacity up to 50% from MY 32 to 33 [2], further supported by analysis of UV [3] and ground temperature [4] data taken by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station during MY 32 and 33. A weaker ( 5%) increase in water ice opacity in MY 33 relative to MY 32 was also observed from images taken during afternoon hours by the rover's Navigation Cameras [5]. We are analyzing simultaneous and noncontemporary satellite observations at the location of Gale made by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer [6], Mars Climate Sounder, Thermal Emission Imaging System and Thermal Emission Spectrometer to shed light on the nature of the interannual variability of the ACB at Gale, and to locally understand the relation between the ACB and the water cycle. References:[1] Smith, M.D. (2008), Spacecraft observations of the martian atmosphere, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 36. [2] McConnochie, T. H., et al. (2017), Retrieval of Water Vapor Column Abundance and Aerosol Properties from ChemCam Passive Sky Spectroscopy, Icarus (submitted). [3] Vicente-Retortillo, Á., et al. (2017), Determination of dust aerosol particle size at Gale Crater using REMS UVS and Mastcam measurements, GRL, 44. [4] Vasavada, A.R. et al

  20. Ice in Volcanic Clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Few, A. A.

    2010-12-01

    It is widely recognized that lightning activity in thunderstorm clouds is associated with ice in the clouds. In volcanic plumes the lower electrical discharges near the vent are clearly not associated with ice; however, the electrical discharges from the upper volcanic clouds very likely are associated with ice. There is ample water in volcanic plumes and clouds. The explosive volcanic eruption is produced by volatile components in the rising magma. Researchers estimate that the water content of the volatiles is up to 99% by mole; other gases are mainly sulfur and chlorine species. These volatiles carry with them a wide range of hot magma melts and solids, importantly silicate particles and tephra. The more massive components fall out near the vent carrying with them much of the heat from the plume; these large components are not in thermodynamic equilibrium with the gases, ash, and lapilli; thus the heat removed does not lower the temperature of the materials carried aloft in the plume. Upward motion is initially provided by the thrust from the volcanic eruption, then by buoyancy of the hot plume. The rising plume is cooled by entrainment of environmental air, which contains water, and by adiabatic expansion; the plume transitions into a volcanic cloud. Further lifting and cooling produces supercooled water droplets (T ~ -5 C) in a limited zone (z ~ 9 km) before the fast updraft (~ 60 m/s) rapidly transforms them into ice. Computer models of volcanic clouds that include water and ice microphysics indicate that the latent heat of condensation is not significant in cloud dynamics because it occurs in a region where buoyancy is provided by the original hot plume material. The latent heat of ice formation occurs at higher and colder levels and seems to contribute to the final lifting of the cloud top by ~1.5km. Laboratory results indicate that the fine silicate ash particles, which are abundant, are good ice nuclei, IN. Because of the abundance of the silicate ash

  1. Water Ice Clouds as Seen from the Mars Exploration Rovers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wolff, M. J.; Clancy, R. T.; Banfield, D.; Cuozzo, K.

    2005-12-01

    Water ice clouds that bear a striking resemblance to terrestrial cirrus (e.g., "Mare's tails") have been observed by the Panoramic Camera (Pancam), the Navigation Camera (Navcam), the Hazard Camera (Hazcam), and the Minature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) on board the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). Such phenomena represent an opportunity to characterize local and regional scale meteorology as well as our understanding of the processes involved. However, a necessary first-step is to adequately describe some basic properties of the detected clouds: 1) when are the clouds present (i.e., local time, season, etc.)? 2) where are the clouds present? That is to say, what is the relative frequency between the two rover sites as well as the connection to detections from orbiting spacecraft. 3) what are the observed morphologies? 4) what are the projected velocities (i.e., wind speeds and directions) associated with the clouds? 5) what is the abundance of water ice nuclei (i.e., optical depth)? Our talk will summarize our progress in answering the above questions, as well as provide initial results in connecting the observations to more global behavior in the Martian climate.

  2. Instability of water-ice interface under turbulent flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Izumi, Norihiro; Naito, Kensuke; Yokokawa, Miwa

    2015-04-01

    It is known that plane water-ice interface becomes unstable to evolve into a train of waves. The underside of ice formed on the water surface of rivers are often observed to be covered with ice ripples. Relatively steep channels which discharge melting water from glaciers are characterized by beds covered with a series of steps. Though the flowing agent inducing instability is not water but gas including water vapor, a similar train of steps have been recently observed on the Polar Ice Caps on Mars (Spiral Troughs). They are expected to be caused by the instability of water-ice interface induced by flowing fluid on ice. There have been some studies on this instability in terms of linear stability analysis. Recently, Caporeale and Ridolfi (2012) have proposed a complete linear stability analysis in the case of laminar flow, and found that plane water-ice interface is unstable in the range of sufficiently large Reynolds numbers, and that the important parameters are the Reynolds number, the slope angle, and the water surface temperature. However, the flow inducing instability on water-ice interface in the field should be in the turbulent regime. Extension of the analysis to the case of fully developed turbulent flow with larger Reynolds numbers is needed. We have performed a linear stability analysis on the instability of water-ice interface under turbulent flow conditions with the use of the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the mixing length turbulent model, the continuity equation of flow, the diffusion/dispersion equation of heat, and the Stefan equation. In order to reproduce the accurate velocity distribution and the heat transfer in the vicinity of smooth walls with the use of the mixing length model, it is important to take into account of the rapid decrease in the mixing length in the viscous sublayer. We employ the Driest model (1956) to the formulation. In addition, as the thermal boundary condition at the water surface, we describe the

  3. Incorporation of stratospheric acids into water ice

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Elliott, Scott; Turco, Richard P.; Toon, Owen B.; Hamill, Patrick

    1990-01-01

    Hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids are absorbed within the water ice lattice at mole fractions maximizing below 0.00001 and 0.0001 in a variety of solid impurity studies. The absorption mechanism may be substitutional or interstitial, leading in either case to a weak permeation of stratospheric ices by the acids at equilibrium. Impurities could also inhabit grain boundaries, and the acid content of atmospheric ice crystals will then depend on details of their surface and internal microstructures. Limited evidence indicates similar properties for the absorption of HNO3. Water ice lattices saturated with acid cannot be a significant local reservoir for HCl in the polar stratosphere.

  4. RADIOLYSIS OF NITROGEN AND WATER-ICE MIXTURE BY FAST IONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR KUIPER BELT OBJECTS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Barros, A. L. F. de; Silveira, E. F da; Bergantini, A.

    The participation of condensed nitrogen in the surface chemistry of some objects in the outer solar system, such as Pluto and Triton, is very important. The remote observation of this species using absorption spectroscopy is a difficult task because N{sub 2} is not IR active in the gas phase. Water is also among the most abundant molecules in the surface of these objects; chemical reactions between N{sub 2} and H{sub 2}O induced by cosmic rays are therefore expected. Although pure N{sub 2} ice is hardly identified by IR spectroscopy, the species produced through the processing of the surface ice bymore » cosmic rays may give relevant clues indicating how abundant the N{sub 2} is in the outside layers of the surface of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). The objective of this work is to investigate the formation of nitrogenated species induced by cosmic-ray analogs in an ice mixture containing nitrogen and water. Experiments were performed in the GANIL Laboratory by bombarding N{sub 2}:H{sub 2}O (10:1) ice at 15 K with 40 MeV {sup 58}Ni{sup 11+} ions. Evolution of precursor and daughter species was monitored by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. The main produced species are the nitrogen oxides NO{sub k} (k = 1–3), N{sub 2}O{sub j} (j = 1–5), N{sub 3}, and O{sub 3}. Among them, the N{sub 2}O and N{sub 3} are the most abundant, representing ∼61% of the total column density of the daughter molecules at 10{sup 13} ions cm{sup −2} fluence; the current results indicate that the yield of daughter species from this mixture is low, and this may be one of the reasons why N{sub i}O{sub j} molecules are not usually observed in TNOs.« less

  5. Water Ice on Pluto

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2015-10-08

    Regions with exposed water ice are highlighted in blue in this composite image from New Horizons' Ralph instrument, combining visible imagery from the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) with infrared spectroscopy from the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA). The strongest signatures of water ice occur along Virgil Fossa, just west of Elliot crater on the left side of the inset image, and also in Viking Terra near the top of the frame. A major outcrop also occurs in Baré Montes towards the right of the image, along with numerous much smaller outcrops, mostly associated with impact craters and valleys between mountains. The scene is approximately 280 miles (450 kilometers) across. Note that all surface feature names are informal. http://ppj2:8080/catalog/PIA19963

  6. Investigation of surface water behavior during glaze ice accretion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hansman, R. John, Jr.; Turnock, Stephen R.

    1988-01-01

    Microvideo observations of glaze ice accretions on 1-in-diameter cylinders in a closed-loop refrigerated wind tunnel were obtained to study factors controlling the behavior of unfrozen surface water during glaze ice accretion. Three zones of surface water behavior were noted, each with a characteristic roughness. The effect of substrate thermal and roughness properties on ice accretions was also studied. The contact angle and hysteresis were found to increase sharply at temperatures just below 0 C, explaining the high resistance to motion of water beads observed on accreting glaze ice surfaces. Based on the results, a simple multizone modification to the current glaze ice accretion model is proposed.

  7. Ice/water Classification of Sentinel-1 Images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Korosov, Anton; Zakhvatkina, Natalia; Muckenhuber, Stefan

    2015-04-01

    Sea Ice monitoring and classification relies heavily on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. These sensors record data either only at horizontal polarization (RADARSAT-1) or vertically polarized (ERS-1 and ERS-2) or at dual polarization (Radarsat-2, Sentinel-1). Many algorithms have been developed to discriminate sea ice types and open water using single polarization images. Ice type classification, however, is still ambiguous in some cases. Sea ice classification in single polarization SAR images has been attempted using various methods since the beginning of the ERS programme. The robust classification using only SAR images that can provide useful results under varying sea ice types and open water tend to be not generally applicable in operational regime. The new generation SAR satellites have capability to deliver images in several polarizations. This gives improved possibility to develop sea ice classification algorithms. In this study we use data from Sentinel-1 at dual-polarization, i.e. HH (horizontally transmitted and horizontally received) and HV (horizontally transmitted, vertically received). This mode assembles wide SAR image from several narrower SAR beams, resulting to an image of 500 x 500 km with 50 m resolution. A non-linear scheme for classification of Sentinel-1 data has been developed. The processing allows to identify three classes: ice, calm water and rough water at 1 km spatial resolution. The raw sigma0 data in HH and HV polarization are first corrected for thermal and random noise by extracting the background thermal noise level and smoothing the image with several filters. At the next step texture characteristics are computed in a moving window using a Gray Level Co-occurence Matrix (GLCM). A neural network is applied at the last step for processing array of the most informative texture characteristics and ice/water classification. The main results are: * the most informative texture characteristics to be used for sea ice classification

  8. Seasonal abundance and vertical distribution of capelin (Mallotus villosus) in relation to water temperature at a coastal site off eastern Newfoundland

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Methven, David A.; Piatt, John F.

    1991-01-01

    The seasonal abundance and vertical distribution of capelin in relation to water temperature have been investigated by conducting repeated hydroacoustic surveys at a coastal site off eastern Newfoundland. Water temperatures were warmer in 1983 than in 1984 as indicated by the earlier appearance and greater depth of the seasonal thermocline. Correspondingly, schools of capelin appeared earlier, were more abundant, and extended deeper in the water column in 1983 than in 1984. Most capelin were found between the surface and the 5°C isotherm. In both years, initial peaks of capelin abundance occurred when nearshore water temperatures increased from about 0-1°C to above 6°C and, at or near, periods of maximum tidal oscillation. Short-term variations in the depth of the 5°C isotherm were related to nearshore wind-induced upwelling events. Annual variations corresponded to the volume of cold (>0°C) water and sea-ice transported south by the Labrador Current.

  9. Chlorine-containing salts as water ice nucleating particles on Mars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Santiago-Materese, D. L.; Iraci, L. T.; Clapham, M. E.; Chuang, P. Y.

    2018-03-01

    Water ice cloud formation on Mars largely is expected to occur on the most efficient ice nucleating particle available. Salts have been observed on the Martian surface and have been known to facilitate water cloud formation on Earth. We examined heterogeneous ice nucleation onto sodium chloride and sodium perchlorate substrates under Martian atmospheric conditions, in the range of 150 to 180 K and 10-7 to 10-5 Torr water partial pressure. Sub-155 K data for the critical saturation ratio (Scrit) suggests an exponential model best describes the temperature-dependence of nucleation onset of water ice for all substrates tested. While sodium chloride does not facilitate water ice nucleation more easily than bare silicon, sodium perchlorate does support depositional nucleation at lower saturation levels than other substrates shown and is comparable to smectite-rich clay in its ability to support cloud initiation. Perchlorates could nucleate water ice at partial pressures up to 40% lower than other substrates examined to date under Martian atmospheric conditions. These findings suggest air masses on Mars containing uplifted salts such as perchlorates could form water ice clouds at lower saturation ratios than in air masses absent similar particles.

  10. High Ice Water Content: DC-8 Aeronautics Campaign

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2015-09-10

    During the month of August, NASA’s DC-8 completed flights in Florida aimed at collecting data on high-altitude crystals for the High Ice Water Content (HIWC) mission. High ice water content can be found within large convective storms and can result in aircraft engines losing power or not functioning properly. Researchers will use the data to develop technology that can be used onboard commercial aircraft to avoid high ice water content conditions and provide a safer flight for passengers. This video gives an inside look at the HIWC mission, including research done in and around Hurricane Danny, as well as a look at the instruments being used onboard the research aircraft. Researchers and pilots onboard worked with satellite information from the ground to find regions of high ice water content within the convective systems.

  11. 21 CFR 1250.86 - Water for making ice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Water for making ice. 1250.86 Section 1250.86 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED... SANITATION Sanitation Facilities and Conditions on Vessels § 1250.86 Water for making ice. Only potable water...

  12. 21 CFR 1250.86 - Water for making ice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Water for making ice. 1250.86 Section 1250.86 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED... SANITATION Sanitation Facilities and Conditions on Vessels § 1250.86 Water for making ice. Only potable water...

  13. 21 CFR 1250.86 - Water for making ice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Water for making ice. 1250.86 Section 1250.86 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED... SANITATION Sanitation Facilities and Conditions on Vessels § 1250.86 Water for making ice. Only potable water...

  14. Rapid Water Transport through Organic Layers on Ice.

    PubMed

    Kong, Xiangrui; Toubin, Céline; Habartova, Alena; Pluharova, Eva; Roeselova, Martina; Pettersson, Jan B C

    2018-05-31

    Processes involving atmospheric aerosol and cloud particles are affected by condensation of organic compounds that are omnipresent in the atmosphere. On ice particles, organic compounds with hydrophilic functional groups form hydrogen bonds with the ice and orient their hydrophobic groups away from the surface. The organic layer has been expected to constitute a barrier to gas uptake, but recent experimental studies suggest that the accommodation of water molecules on ice is only weakly affected by condensed short-chain alcohol layers. Here, we employ molecular dynamics simulations to study the water interactions with n-butanol covered ice at 200 K and show that the small effect of the condensed layer is due to efficient diffusion of water molecules along the surface plane while seeking appropriate sites to penetrate, followed by penetration driven by the combined attractive forces from butanol OH groups and water molecules within the ice. The water molecules that penetrate through the n-butanol layer become strongly bonded by approximately three hydrogen bonds at the butanol-ice interface. The obtained accommodation coefficient (0.81 ± 0.03) is in excellent agreement with results from previous environmental molecular beam experiments, leading to a picture where an adsorbed n-butanol layer does not alter the apparent accommodation coefficient but dramatically changes the detailed molecular dynamics and kinetics.

  15. Retrieval of water vapor column abundance and aerosol properties from ChemCam passive sky spectroscopy

    DOE PAGES

    McConnochie, Timothy H.; Smith, Michael D.; Wolff, Michael J.; ...

    2017-11-03

    In this work, we derive water vapor column abundances and aerosol properties from Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ChemCam passive mode observations of scattered sky light. This paper covers the methodology and initial results for water vapor and also provides preliminary results for aerosols. The data set presented here includes the results of 113 observations spanning from Mars Year 31 L s = 291° (March 30, 2013) to Mars Year 33 L s= 127° (March 24, 2016). Each ChemCam passive sky observation acquires spectra at two different elevation angles. We fit these spectra with a discrete-ordinates multiple scattering radiative transfer model,more » using the correlated-k approximation for gas absorption bands. The retrieval proceeds by first fitting the continuum of the ratio of the two elevation angles to solve for aerosol properties, and then fitting the continuum-removed ratio to solve for gas abundances. The final step of the retrieval makes use of the observed CO 2 absorptions and the known CO 2 abundance to correct the retrieved water vapor abundance for the effects of the vertical distribution of scattering aerosols and to derive an aerosol scale height parameter. Our water vapor results give water vapor column abundance with a precision of ±0.6 precipitable microns and systematic errors no larger than ±0.3 precipitable microns, assuming uniform vertical mixing. The ChemCam-retrieved water abundances show, with only a few exceptions, the same seasonal behavior and the same timing of seasonal minima and maxima as the TES, CRISM, and REMS-H data sets that we compare them to. However ChemCam-retrieved water abundances are generally lower than zonal and regional scale from-orbit water vapor data, while at the same time being significantly larger than pre-dawn REMS-H abundances. Pending further analysis of REMS-H volume mixing ratio uncertainties, the differences between ChemCam and REMS-H pre-dawn mixing ratios appear to be much too large to be explained by large

  16. Retrieval of water vapor column abundance and aerosol properties from ChemCam passive sky spectroscopy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McConnochie, Timothy H.; Smith, Michael D.; Wolff, Michael J.

    In this work, we derive water vapor column abundances and aerosol properties from Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ChemCam passive mode observations of scattered sky light. This paper covers the methodology and initial results for water vapor and also provides preliminary results for aerosols. The data set presented here includes the results of 113 observations spanning from Mars Year 31 L s = 291° (March 30, 2013) to Mars Year 33 L s= 127° (March 24, 2016). Each ChemCam passive sky observation acquires spectra at two different elevation angles. We fit these spectra with a discrete-ordinates multiple scattering radiative transfer model,more » using the correlated-k approximation for gas absorption bands. The retrieval proceeds by first fitting the continuum of the ratio of the two elevation angles to solve for aerosol properties, and then fitting the continuum-removed ratio to solve for gas abundances. The final step of the retrieval makes use of the observed CO 2 absorptions and the known CO 2 abundance to correct the retrieved water vapor abundance for the effects of the vertical distribution of scattering aerosols and to derive an aerosol scale height parameter. Our water vapor results give water vapor column abundance with a precision of ±0.6 precipitable microns and systematic errors no larger than ±0.3 precipitable microns, assuming uniform vertical mixing. The ChemCam-retrieved water abundances show, with only a few exceptions, the same seasonal behavior and the same timing of seasonal minima and maxima as the TES, CRISM, and REMS-H data sets that we compare them to. However ChemCam-retrieved water abundances are generally lower than zonal and regional scale from-orbit water vapor data, while at the same time being significantly larger than pre-dawn REMS-H abundances. Pending further analysis of REMS-H volume mixing ratio uncertainties, the differences between ChemCam and REMS-H pre-dawn mixing ratios appear to be much too large to be explained by large

  17. Do Europa's Mountains Have Roots? Erosion of Topography at the Ice-Water Interface via the "Ice Pump"

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goodman, J. C.

    2016-12-01

    Are topographic features on the surface of Europa and other icy worlds isostatically compensated by variations in shell thickness (Airy isostasy)? This is only possible if variations in shell thickness can remain stable over geologic time. Here we show that melting and freezing driven by the pressure dependence of the melting point of water - the "ice pump" - can rapidly erase topography at the ice/water interface. We consider ice pumps driven by both tidal action and buoyancy-driven flow. We first show that as tidal action drives the ocean up and down along a sloping interface, ice will be melted from areas where it's thickest and deposited where the ice is thinnest. We show that this process causes the ice interface topography to relax according to a simple "diffusion" linear partial differential equation. We estimate that a 10-km-wide topographic feature would be erased by the tidal ice pump in 3000 years if Europa's tidal current amplitude is 1 cm/s; however, this timescale is inversely proportional to the cube of the tidal velocity! Next, we consider an ice pump powered by ascent of meltwater along a sloping ice-water interface. We consider layer-averaged budgets for heat, mass, and momentum, along with turbulent mixing of the meltwater layer with underlying seawater via a Richardson number dependent entrainment process, and use these to estimate the thickness and mass flux of the meltwater layer. From this we estimate the rate of melting and freezing at the interface. These two ice pump processes combine with the glacial flow of warm basal ice to rapidly flatten out any variations in the height of the ice-water interface: Europa's ice/water interface may be perfectly flat! If so, topography at Europa's surface can only be supported by variations in density of the shell or the strength of the brittle surface ice.

  18. Evidence for stabilization of the ice-cemented cryosphere in earlier martian history: Implications for the current abundance of groundwater at depth on Mars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weiss, David K.; Head, James W.

    2017-05-01

    The present-day martian mean annual surface temperature is well below freezing at all latitudes; this produces a near-surface portion of the crust that is below the freezing point of water for > 2 consecutive years (defined as permafrost). This permafrost layer (i.e., the cryosphere) is a few to tens of km thick depending on latitude. Below the base of the permafrost (i.e., the cryosphere), groundwater is stable if it exists, and can increase and decrease in abundance as the freezing isotherm rises and falls. Where water is available, ice fills the pore space within the cryosphere; this region is known as the ice-cemented cryosphere (ICC). The potential for a large reservoir of pore ice beneath the surface has been the subject of much discussion: previous studies have demonstrated that the theoretical thickness of the martian cryosphere in the Amazonian period ranges from up to ∼9 km at the equator to ∼10-22 km at the poles. The total thickness of ice that might fill the pore space within the cryosphere (the ICC), however, remains unknown. A class of martian crater, the Hesperian-Amazonian-aged single-layered ejecta crater, is widely accepted as having formed by impact into an ice-cemented target. Although the target structure related to the larger multiple-layered ejecta craters remains uncertain, they have recently been interpreted to be formed by impact crater excavation below the ice-cemented target, and here we tentatively adopt this interpretation in order to infer the thickness of the ice-cemented cryosphere. Our global examination of the excavation depths of these crater populations points to a Hesperian-Amazonian-aged ice-cemented cryosphere that is ∼1.3 km thick at the equator, and ∼2.3 km thick at the poles (corresponding to a global equivalent water layer of ∼200 m assuming ∼20% pore ice at the surface). To explore the implications of this result on the martian climatic and hydrologic evolution, we then assess the surface temperature

  19. The Ortho-to-para Ratio of Water Molecules Desorbed from Ice Made from Para-water Monomers at 11 K

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hama, Tetsuya; Kouchi, Akira; Watanabe, Naoki

    2018-04-01

    Water has two nuclear-spin isomers: ortho- and para-H2O. Some observations of interstellar space and cometary comae have reported the existence of gaseous H2O molecules with anomalous ortho-to-para ratios (OPRs) less than the statistical value of three. This has been often used to estimate the formation temperature of ice on dust, which is inferred to be below 50 K. The relation between the nuclear-spin dynamics of H2O in ice at low temperatures and the OPR of gaseous H2O desorbed from the ice has yet to be explored in a laboratory. Consequently, the true meaning of the observed OPRs remains debated. We measure the OPR of H2O photodesorbed from ice made from para-H2O monomers at 11 K, which was prepared by the sublimation of Ne from a para-H2O/Ne matrix. The photodesorbed H2O molecules from the ice have the statistical OPR value of three, demonstrating the immediate nuclear-spin-state mixing of H2O toward the statistical value of ice even at 11 K. The OPR of H2O thermally desorbed from the ice also shows the expected statistical value. Our results indicate that the OPR of H2O desorbed from interstellar ice should be the statistical value regardless of the formation process of the ice, which cannot be used to deduce the ice-formation temperature. This study highlights the importance of interstellar gas-phase processes in understanding anomalous abundance ratios of nuclear-spin isomers of molecules in space.

  20. CHEMICAL PROCESSING OF PURE AMMONIA AND AMMONIA-WATER ICES INDUCED BY HEAVY IONS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bordalo, V.; Da Silveira, E. F.; Lv, X. Y.

    Cosmic rays are possibly the main agents to prevent the freeze-out of molecules onto grain surfaces in cold dense clouds. Ammonia (NH{sub 3}) is one of the most abundant molecules present in dust ice mantles, with a concentration of up to 15% relative to water (H{sub 2}O). FTIR spectroscopy is used to monitor pure NH{sub 3} and NH{sub 3}-H{sub 2}O ice samples as they are irradiated with Ni and Zn ion beams (500-600 MeV) at GANIL/France. New species, such as hydrazine (N{sub 2}H{sub 4}), diazene (N{sub 2}H{sub 2} isomers), molecular hydrogen (H{sub 2}), and nitrogen (N{sub 2}) were identified aftermore » irradiation of pure NH{sub 3} ices. Nitrous oxide (N{sub 2}O), nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO{sub 2}), and hydroxylamine (NH{sub 2}OH) are some of the products of the NH{sub 3}-H{sub 2}O ice radiolysis. The spectral band at 6.85 {mu}m was observed after irradiation of both types of ice. Besides the likely contribution of ammonium (NH{sub 4}{sup +}) and amino (NH{sub 2}) radicals, data suggest a small contribution of NH{sub 2}OH to this band profile after high fluences of irradiation of NH{sub 3}-H{sub 2}O ices. The spectral shift of the NH{sub 3} ''umbrella'' mode (9.3 {mu}m) band is parameterized as a function of NH{sub 3}/H{sub 2}O ratio in amorphous ices. Ammonia and water destruction cross-sections are obtained, as well as the rate of NH{sub 3}-H{sub 2}O (1:10) ice compaction, measured by the OH dangling bond destruction cross-section. Ammonia destruction is enhanced in the presence of H{sub 2}O in the ice and a power law relationship between stopping power and NH{sub 3} destruction cross-section is verified. Such results may provide relevant information for the evolution of molecular species in dense molecular clouds.« less

  1. Doping-induced disappearance of ice II from water's phase diagram

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shephard, Jacob J.; Slater, Ben; Harvey, Peter; Hart, Martin; Bull, Craig L.; Bramwell, Steven T.; Salzmann, Christoph G.

    2018-06-01

    Water and the many phases of ice display a plethora of complex physical properties and phase relationships1-4 that are of paramount importance in a range of settings including processes in Earth's hydrosphere, the geology of icy moons, industry and even the evolution of life. Well-known examples include the unusual behaviour of supercooled water2, the emergent ferroelectric ordering in ice films4 and the fact that the `ordinary' ice Ih floats on water. We report the intriguing observation that ice II, one of the high-pressure phases of ice, disappears in a selective fashion from water's phase diagram following the addition of small amounts of ammonium fluoride. This finding exposes the strict topologically constrained nature of the ice II hydrogen-bond network, which is not found for the competing phases. In analogy to the behaviour of frustrated magnets5, the presence of the exceptional ice II is argued to have a wider impact on water's phase diagram, potentially explaining its general tendency to display anomalous behaviour. Furthermore, the impurity-induced disappearance of ice II raises the prospect that specific dopants may not only be able to suppress certain phases but also induce the formation of new phases of ice in future studies.

  2. Limit regimes of ice formation in turbulent supercooled water.

    PubMed

    De Santi, Francesca; Olla, Piero

    2017-10-01

    A study of ice formation in stationary turbulent conditions is carried out in various limit regimes of crystal growth, supercooling, and ice entrainment at the water surface. Analytical expressions for the temperature, salinity, and ice concentration mean profiles are provided, and the role of fluctuations in ice production is numerically quantified. Lower bounds on the ratio of sensible heat flux to latent heat flux to the atmosphere are derived and their dependence on key parameters such as salt rejection in freezing and ice entrainment in the water column is elucidated.

  3. Water, ice and mud: Lahars and lahar hazards at ice- and snow-clad volcanoes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Waythomas, Christopher F.

    2014-01-01

    Large-volume lahars are significant hazards at ice and snow covered volcanoes. Hot eruptive products produced during explosive eruptions can generate a substantial volume of melt water that quickly evolves into highly mobile flows of ice, sediment and water. At present it is difficult to predict the size of lahars that can form at ice and snow covered volcanoes due to their complex flow character and behaviour. However, advances in experiments and numerical approaches are producing new conceptual models and new methods for hazard assessment. Eruption triggered lahars that are ice-dominated leave behind thin, almost unrecognizable sedimentary deposits, making them likely to be under-represented in the geological record.

  4. Ice crystallization in ultrafine water-salt aerosols: nucleation, ice-solution equilibrium, and internal structure.

    PubMed

    Hudait, Arpa; Molinero, Valeria

    2014-06-04

    Atmospheric aerosols have a strong influence on Earth's climate. Elucidating the physical state and internal structure of atmospheric aqueous aerosols is essential to predict their gas and water uptake, and the locus and rate of atmospherically important heterogeneous reactions. Ultrafine aerosols with sizes between 3 and 15 nm have been detected in large numbers in the troposphere and tropopause. Nanoscopic aerosols arising from bubble bursting of natural and artificial seawater have been identified in laboratory and field experiments. The internal structure and phase state of these aerosols, however, cannot yet be determined in experiments. Here we use molecular simulations to investigate the phase behavior and internal structure of liquid, vitrified, and crystallized water-salt ultrafine aerosols with radii from 2.5 to 9.5 nm and with up to 10% moles of ions. We find that both ice crystallization and vitrification of the nanodroplets lead to demixing of pure water from the solutions. Vitrification of aqueous nanodroplets yields nanodomains of pure low-density amorphous ice in coexistence with vitrified solute rich aqueous glass. The melting temperature of ice in the aerosols decreases monotonically with an increase of solute fraction and decrease of radius. The simulations reveal that nucleation of ice occurs homogeneously at the subsurface of the water-salt nanoparticles. Subsequent ice growth yields phase-segregated, internally mixed, aerosols with two phases in equilibrium: a concentrated water-salt amorphous mixture and a spherical cap-like ice nanophase. The surface of the crystallized aerosols is heterogeneous, with ice and solution exposed to the vapor. Free energy calculations indicate that as the concentration of salt in the particles, the advance of the crystallization, or the size of the particles increase, the stability of the spherical cap structure increases with respect to the alternative structure in which a core of ice is fully surrounded by

  5. Solubility of sodium chloride in superionic water ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernandez, Jean-Alexis; Caracas, Razvan

    2017-04-01

    In icy planets, complex interactions are expected to occur at the interface between the rocky core and the icy mantle composed of mixtures based on water, methane, and ammonia [1, 2]. The hydration of the silicate layer produces salts (MgSO4, NaCl, KCl) that could mix with the ice, and change considerably its properties [3]. Here, we used first-principles molecular dynamics to investigate the stability and the properties of the binary system NaCl-H2O at the relevant thermodynamic conditions for planetary interiors up to ice giants. In these conditions, pure water ice undergoes several transitions that affect considerably its ionic conductivity and its elastic properties [4]. We calculated the Gibbs free energy of mixing along the NaCl-H2O binary by applying Boltzmann statistics to account for energy differences between configurations. We evaluated vibrational entropy from the vibrational spectra of the nuclei motion using the recently developed two phases thermodynamic memory function (2PT-MF) model for multicomponent systems [5, 6]. We show that the solubility of NaCl in water ice at 1600 K is less than 0.78 mol%. We find that salty ices present an extended superionic domain toward high pressures in comparison to pure water ice. Finally, we predict that the complete symmetrization of the hydrogen bonds (i.e. transition to ice X) occurs at higher pressure than in pure water ice, as observed in LiCl doped water ice at ambient temperature [7]. References: [1] M. R. Frank, C. E. Runge, H. P. Scott, S. J. Maglio, J. Olson, V. B. Prakapenka, G. Shen, PEPI 155 (2006) 152-162 [2] B. Journaux, I. Daniel, R. Caracas, G. Montagnac, H. Cardon, Icarus 226 (2013) 355-363 [3] S. Klotz, L. E. Bove, T. Strässle, T. C. Hansen, A. M. Saitta, Nature Materials 8 (2009) 405-409 [4] J. -A. Hernandez, R. Caracas, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 (2016) 135503 [5] M. P. Desjarlais, Phys. Rev. E 88 (2013) 062145 [6] M. French, M. P. Desjarlais, R. Redmer, Phys. Rev. E 93 (2016) 022140 [7] L. E. Bove

  6. Is Water at the Graphite Interface Vapor-like or Ice-like?

    PubMed

    Qiu, Yuqing; Lupi, Laura; Molinero, Valeria

    2018-04-05

    Graphitic surfaces are the main component of soot, a major constituent of atmospheric aerosols. Experiments indicate that soots of different origins display a wide range of abilities to heterogeneously nucleate ice. The ability of pure graphite to nucleate ice in experiments, however, seems to be almost negligible. Nevertheless, molecular simulations with the monatomic water model mW with water-carbon interactions parameterized to reproduce the experimental contact angle of water on graphite predict that pure graphite nucleates ice. According to classical nucleation theory, the ability of a surface to nucleate ice is controlled by the binding free energy between ice immersed in liquid water and the surface. To establish whether the discrepancy in freezing efficiencies of graphite in mW simulations and experiments arises from the coarse resolution of the model or can be fixed by reparameterization, it is important to elucidate the contributions of the water-graphite, water-ice, and ice-water interfaces to the free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of binding for both water and the model. Here we use thermodynamic analysis and free energy calculations to determine these interfacial properties. We demonstrate that liquid water at the graphite interface is not ice-like or vapor-like: it has similar free energy, entropy, and enthalpy as water in the bulk. The thermodynamics of the water-graphite interface is well reproduced by the mW model. We find that the entropy of binding between graphite and ice is positive and dominated, in both experiments and simulations, by the favorable entropy of reducing the ice-water interface. Our analysis indicates that the discrepancy in freezing efficiencies of graphite in experiments and the simulations with mW arises from the inability of the model to simultaneously reproduce the contact angle of liquid water on graphite and the free energy of the ice-graphite interface. This transferability issue is intrinsic to the resolution of the

  7. Flow of ices in the Ammonia-Water System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Durham, W. B.; Kirby, S. H.; Stern, L. A.

    1993-01-01

    We have fabricated in the laboratory and subsequently deformed crystalline hydrates and partial melts of the water-rich end of the NH3-H2O system, with the aim of improving our understanding of physical processes occurring in icy moons of the outer solar system. Deformation experiments were carried out at constant strain rate. The range of experimental variables are given. Phase relationships in the NH3-H2O system indicate that water ice and ammonia dihydrate, NH3-2H2O, are the stable phases under our experiment conditions. X-ray diffraction of our samples usually revealed these as the dominant phases, but we have also observed an amorphous phase (in unpressurized samples only) and occasionally significant ammonia monohydrate, NH3-H2O. The onset of partial melting at the peritectic temperature at about 176 K appeared as a sharp transition in strength observed in samples of x(sub NH3) = 0.05 and 0.01, the effect of melt was less pronounced. For any given water ice + dihydrate alloy in the subsolidus region, we observed one rheological law over the entire temperature range from 175 K to about 140 K. Below 140 K, a shear instability similar to that occurring in pure water ice under the same conditions limited our ability to measure ductile flow. The rheological laws for the several alloys vary systematically from that of pure ice to that of dihydrate. Pure dihydrate is about 4 orders of magnitude less viscous than water ice just below the peritectic temperature, but because of a very pronounced temperature dependence in dihydrate (100 kJ/mol versus 43 kJ/mol for water ice) the viscosity of dihydrate equals or exceeds that of water ice at T less than 140 K. The large variation in viscosity of dihydrate with relatively small changes in temperature may be helpful in explaining the rich variety of tectonic and volcanic features seen on the surfaces of icy moons in the outer solar system.

  8. Dynamics of ice nucleation on water repellent surfaces.

    PubMed

    Alizadeh, Azar; Yamada, Masako; Li, Ri; Shang, Wen; Otta, Shourya; Zhong, Sheng; Ge, Liehui; Dhinojwala, Ali; Conway, Ken R; Bahadur, Vaibhav; Vinciquerra, A Joseph; Stephens, Brian; Blohm, Margaret L

    2012-02-14

    Prevention of ice accretion and adhesion on surfaces is relevant to many applications, leading to improved operation safety, increased energy efficiency, and cost reduction. Development of passive nonicing coatings is highly desirable, since current antiicing strategies are energy and cost intensive. Superhydrophobicity has been proposed as a lead passive nonicing strategy, yet the exact mechanism of delayed icing on these surfaces is not clearly understood. In this work, we present an in-depth analysis of ice formation dynamics upon water droplet impact on surfaces with different wettabilities. We experimentally demonstrate that ice nucleation under low-humidity conditions can be delayed through control of surface chemistry and texture. Combining infrared (IR) thermometry and high-speed photography, we observe that the reduction of water-surface contact area on superhydrophobic surfaces plays a dual role in delaying nucleation: first by reducing heat transfer and second by reducing the probability of heterogeneous nucleation at the water-substrate interface. This work also includes an analysis (based on classical nucleation theory) to estimate various homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation rates in icing situations. The key finding is that ice nucleation delay on superhydrophobic surfaces is more prominent at moderate degrees of supercooling, while closer to the homogeneous nucleation temperature, bulk and air-water interface nucleation effects become equally important. The study presented here offers a comprehensive perspective on the efficacy of textured surfaces for nonicing applications.

  9. Proton dynamics and the phase diagram of dense water ice.

    PubMed

    Hernandez, J-A; Caracas, R

    2018-06-07

    All the different phases of water ice between 2 GPa and several megabars are based on a single body-centered cubic sub-lattice of oxygen atoms. They differ only by the behavior of the hydrogen atoms. In this study, we investigate the dynamics of the H atoms at high pressures and temperatures in water ice from first-principles molecular dynamics simulations. We provide a detailed analysis of the O-H⋯O bonding dynamics over the entire stability domain of the body-centered cubic (bcc) water ices and compute transport properties and vibrational density-of-states. We report the first ab initio evidence for a plastic phase of water and we propose a coherent phase diagram for bcc water ices compatible with the two groups of melting curves and with the multiple anomalies reported in ice VII around 15 GPa.

  10. The Mars water cycle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davies, D. W.

    1981-01-01

    A model has been developed to test the hypothesis that the observed seasonal and latitudinal distribution of water on Mars is controlled by the sublimation and condensation of surface ice deposits in the Arctic and Antarctic, and the meridional transport of water vapor. Besides reproducing the observed water vapor distribution, the model correctly reproduces the presence of a large permanent ice cap in the Arctic and not in the Antarctic. No permanent ice reservoirs are predicted in the temperate or equatorial zones. Wintertime ice deposits in the Arctic are shown to be the source of the large water vapor abundances observed in the Arctic summertime, and the moderate water vapor abundances in the northern temperate region. Model calculations suggest that a year without dust storms results in very little change in the water vapor distribution. The current water distribution appears to be the equilibrium distribution for present atmospheric conditions.

  11. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Ionization Energy Lowering in Water Ices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gudipati, Murthy S.; Allamandola, Louis J.

    2004-01-01

    In studying various interstellar and solar system ice analogs, we have recently found that upon vacuum ultraviolet photolysis, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) frozen in water ice at low temperatures are easily ionized and indefinitely stabilized as trapped ions (Gudipati; Gudipati & Allamandola). Here we report the first experimental study that shows that PAH ionization energy is significantly lowered in PAH/H2O ices, in agreement with recent theoretical work (Woon & Park). The ionization energy (IE) of the PAH studied here, quaterrylene (C40H20, IE = 6.11 eV), is lowered by up to 2.11 eV in water ice. PAH ionization energy reduction in low-temperature water ice substantially expands the astronomical regions in which trapped ions and electrons may be important. This reduction in ionization energy should also hold for other types of trapped species in waterrich interstellar, circumstellar, and solar system ices. Subject headings: ISM: clouds - methods: laboratory - molecular processes - radiation mechanisms: nonthermal -ultraviolet: ISM - ultraviolet: solar system

  12. Experimental evidence for superionic water ice using shock compression

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Millot, Marius; Hamel, Sebastien; Rygg, J. Ryan; Celliers, Peter M.; Collins, Gilbert W.; Coppari, Federica; Fratanduono, Dayne E.; Jeanloz, Raymond; Swift, Damian C.; Eggert, Jon H.

    2018-03-01

    In stark contrast to common ice, Ih, water ice at planetary interior conditions has been predicted to become superionic with fast-diffusing (that is, liquid-like) hydrogen ions moving within a solid lattice of oxygen. Likely to constitute a large fraction of icy giant planets, this extraordinary phase has not been observed in the laboratory. Here, we report laser-driven shock-compression experiments on water ice VII. Using time-resolved optical pyrometry and laser velocimetry measurements as well as supporting density functional theory-molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) simulations, we document the shock equation of state of H2O to unprecedented extreme conditions and unravel thermodynamic signatures showing that ice melts near 5,000 K at 190 GPa. Optical reflectivity and absorption measurements also demonstrate the low electronic conductivity of ice, which, combined with previous measurements of the total electrical conductivity under reverberating shock compression, provides experimental evidence for superionic conduction in water ice at planetary interior conditions, verifying a 30-year-old prediction.

  13. The role of water ice clouds in the Martian hydrologic cycle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    James, Philip B.

    1990-01-01

    A one-dimensional model for the seasonal cycle of water on Mars has been used to investigate the direction of the net annual transport of water on the planet and to study the possible role of water ice clouds, which are included as an independent phase in addition to ground ice and water vapor, in the cycle. The calculated seasonal and spatial patterns of occurrence of water ice clouds are qualitatively similar to the observed polar hoods, suggesting that these polar clouds are, in fact, an important component of water cycle. A residual dry ice in the south acts as a cold trap which, in the absence of sources other than the caps, will ultimately attract the water ice from the north cap; however, in the presence of a source of water in northern midlatitudes during spring, it is possible that the observed distribution of vapor and ice can be in a steady state even if a residual CO2 cap is a permanent feature of the system.

  14. Separations on water-ice. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dasgupta, P.K.

    1998-07-01

    This report focuses on processes to separate water frozen into ice. Research topics include the following: normal phase columnar chromatography; electrophoresis in a planar format; and zone melting type separations on a solid column of ice. Attempts were made to dope the emulsion with {beta}-cyclodextrin in order to separate commercially important chiral drugs such as Inderal.

  15. Reconstructing the history of water ice formation from HDO/H2O and D2O/HDO ratios in protostellar cores

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Furuya, K.; van Dishoeck, E. F.; Aikawa, Y.

    2016-02-01

    Recent interferometer observations have found that the D2O/HDO abundance ratio is higher than that of HDO/H2O by about one order of magnitude in the vicinity of low-mass protostar NGC 1333-IRAS 2A, where water ice has sublimated. Previous laboratory and theoretical studies show that the D2O/HDO ice ratio should be lower than the HDO/H2O ice ratio, if HDO and D2O ices are formed simultaneously with H2O ice. In this work, we propose that the observed feature, D2O/HDO > HDO/H2O, is a natural consequence of chemical evolution in the early cold stages of low-mass star formation as follows: 1) majority of oxygen is locked up in water ice and other molecules in molecular clouds, where water deuteration is not efficient; and 2) water ice formation continues with much reduced efficiency in cold prestellar/protostellar cores, where deuteration processes are highly enhanced as a result of the drop of the ortho-para ratio of H2, the weaker UV radiation field, etc. Using a simple analytical model and gas-ice astrochemical simulations, which traces the evolution from the formation of molecular clouds to protostellar cores, we show that the proposed scenario can quantitatively explain the observed HDO/H2O and D2O/HDO ratios. We also find that the majority of HDO and D2O ices are likely formed in cold prestellar/protostellar cores rather than in molecular clouds, where the majority of H2O ice is formed. This work demonstrates the power of the combination of the HDO/H2O and D2O/HDO ratios as a tool to reveal the past history of water ice formation in the early cold stages of star formation, and when the enrichment of deuterium in the bulk of water occurred. Further observations are needed to explore if the relation, D2O/HDO > HDO/H2O, is common in low-mass protostellar sources.

  16. Variations in the amount of water ice on Ceres' surface suggest a seasonal water cycle.

    PubMed

    Raponi, Andrea; De Sanctis, Maria Cristina; Frigeri, Alessandro; Ammannito, Eleonora; Ciarniello, Mauro; Formisano, Michelangelo; Combe, Jean-Philippe; Magni, Gianfranco; Tosi, Federico; Carrozzo, Filippo Giacomo; Fonte, Sergio; Giardino, Marco; Joy, Steven P; Polanskey, Carol A; Rayman, Marc D; Capaccioni, Fabrizio; Capria, Maria Teresa; Longobardo, Andrea; Palomba, Ernesto; Zambon, Francesca; Raymond, Carol A; Russell, Christopher T

    2018-03-01

    The dwarf planet Ceres is known to host a considerable amount of water in its interior, and areas of water ice were detected by the Dawn spacecraft on its surface. Moreover, sporadic water and hydroxyl emissions have been observed from space telescopes. We report the detection of water ice in a mid-latitude crater and its unexpected variation with time. The Dawn spectrometer data show a change of water ice signatures over a period of 6 months, which is well modeled as ~2-km 2 increase of water ice. The observed increase, coupled with Ceres' orbital parameters, points to an ongoing process that seems correlated with solar flux. The reported variation on Ceres' surface indicates that this body is chemically and physically active at the present time.

  17. MGS TES observations of the water vapor above the seasonal and perennial ice caps during northern spring and summer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pankine, Alexey A.; Tamppari, Leslie K.; Smith, Michael D.

    2010-11-01

    We report on new retrievals of water vapor column abundances from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data. The new retrievals are from the TES nadir data taken above the 'cold' surface areas in the North polar region ( Tsurf < 220 K, including seasonal frost and permanent ice cap) during spring and summer seasons, where retrievals were not performed initially. Retrievals are possible (with some modifications to the original algorithm) over cold surfaces overlaid by sufficiently warm atmosphere. The retrieved water vapor column abundances are compared to the column abundances observed by other spacecrafts in the Northern polar region during spring and summer and good agreement is found. We detect an annulus of water vapor growing above the edge of the retreating seasonal cap during spring. The formation of the vapor annulus is consistent with the previously proposed mechanism for water cycling in the polar region, according to which vapor released by frost sublimation during spring re-condenses on the retreating seasonal CO 2 cap. The source of the vapor in the vapor annulus, according to this model, is the water frost on the surface of the CO 2 at the retreating edge of the cap and the frost on the ground that is exposed by the retreating cap. Small contribution from regolith sources is possible too, but cannot be quantified based on the TES vapor data alone. Water vapor annulus exhibits interannual variability, which we attribute to variations in the atmospheric temperature. We propose that during spring and summer the water ice sublimation is retarded by high relative humidity of the local atmosphere, and that higher atmospheric temperatures lead to higher vapor column abundances by increasing the water holding capacity of the atmosphere. Since the atmospheric temperatures are strongly influenced by the atmospheric dust content, local dust storms may be controlling the release of vapor into the polar atmosphere. Water vapor

  18. NASA's MESSENGER Finds New Evidence for Water Ice at Mercury's Poles

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2017-12-08

    New observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft provide compelling support for the long-held hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters. Three independent lines of evidence support this conclusion: the first measurements of excess hydrogen at Mercury's north pole with MESSENGER's Neutron Spectrometer, the first measurements of the reflectance of Mercury's polar deposits at near-infrared wavelengths with the Mercury Laser Altimeter (MLA), and the first detailed models of the surface and near-surface temperatures of Mercury's north polar regions that utilize the actual topography of Mercury's surface measured by the MLA. These findings are presented in three papers published online today in Science Express. Given its proximity to the Sun, Mercury would seem to be an unlikely place to find ice. But the tilt of Mercury's rotational axis is almost zero — less than one degree — so there are pockets at the planet's poles that never see sunlight. Scientists suggested decades ago that there might be water ice and other frozen volatiles trapped at Mercury's poles. The idea received a boost in 1991, when the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico detected unusually radar-bright patches at Mercury's poles, spots that reflected radio waves in the way one would expect if there were water ice. Many of these patches corresponded to the location of large impact craters mapped by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in the 1970s. But because Mariner saw less than 50 percent of the planet, planetary scientists lacked a complete diagram of the poles to compare with the images. MESSENGER's arrival at Mercury last year changed that. Images from the spacecraft's Mercury Dual Imaging System taken in 2011 and earlier this year confirmed that radar-bright features at Mercury's north and south poles are within shadowed regions on Mercury's surface, findings that are consistent with the water-ice hypothesis. To read

  19. Ice Cloud Properties in Ice-Over-Water Cloud Systems Using TRMM VIRS and TMI Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Minnis, Patrick; Huang, Jianping; Lin, Bing; Yi, Yuhong; Arduini, Robert F.; Fan, Tai-Fang; Ayers, J. Kirk; Mace, Gerald G.

    2007-01-01

    A multi-layered cloud retrieval system (MCRS) is updated and used to estimate ice water path in maritime ice-over-water clouds using Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) and TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission spacecraft between January and August 1998. Lookup tables of top-of-atmosphere 0.65- m reflectance are developed for ice-over-water cloud systems using radiative transfer calculations with various combinations of ice-over-water cloud layers. The liquid and ice water paths, LWP and IWP, respectively, are determined with the MCRS using these lookup tables with a combination of microwave (MW), visible (VIS), and infrared (IR) data. LWP, determined directly from the TMI MW data, is used to define the lower-level cloud properties to select the proper lookup table. The properties of the upper-level ice clouds, such as optical depth and effective size, are then derived using the Visible Infrared Solar-infrared Split-window Technique (VISST), which matches the VIRS IR, 3.9- m, and VIS data to the multilayer-cloud lookup table reflectances and a set of emittance parameterizations. Initial comparisons with surface-based radar retrievals suggest that this enhanced MCRS can significantly improve the accuracy and decrease the IWP in overlapped clouds by 42% and 13% compared to using the single-layer VISST and an earlier simplified MW-VIS-IR (MVI) differencing method, respectively, for ice-over-water cloud systems. The tropical distribution of ice-over-water clouds is the same as derived earlier from combined TMI and VIRS data, but the new values of IWP and optical depth are slightly larger than the older MVI values, and exceed those of single-layered layered clouds by 7% and 11%, respectively. The mean IWP from the MCRS is 8-14% greater than that retrieved from radar retrievals of overlapped clouds over two surface sites and the standard deviations of the differences are similar to those for single-layered clouds. Examples

  20. Permittivity of ice and water at millimeter wavelengths

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blue, M. D.

    1980-01-01

    Measurements of reflectivity of water and ice at 100 GHz, 140 GHz, and 180 GHz are reported. Measurements on water covered the temperature range 0 C to 50 C. No anomalies in the dielectric properties of water due to the presence of either salts or organic matter were found. The reflectivity of water and its temperature dependence are consistent with recent dielectric property models derived from data at other wavelengths. The index of refraction of fresh ice is constant at 1.78 throughout this regions.

  1. Automated detection of Martian water ice clouds: the Valles Marineris

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ogohara, Kazunori; Munetomo, Takafumi; Hatanaka, Yuji; Okumura, Susumu

    2016-10-01

    We need to extract water ice clouds from the large number of Mars images in order to reveal spatial and temporal variations of water ice cloud occurrence and to meteorologically understand climatology of water ice clouds. However, visible images observed by Mars orbiters for several years are too many to visually inspect each of them even though the inspection was limited to one region. Therefore, an automated detection algorithm of Martian water ice clouds is necessary for collecting ice cloud images efficiently. In addition, it may visualize new aspects of spatial and temporal variations of water ice clouds that we have never been aware. We present a method for automatically evaluating the presence of Martian water ice clouds using difference images and cross-correlation distributions calculated from blue band images of the Valles Marineris obtained by the Mars Orbiter Camera onboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS/MOC). We derived one subtracted image and one cross-correlation distribution from two reflectance images. The difference between the maximum and the average, variance, kurtosis, and skewness of the subtracted image were calculated. Those of the cross-correlation distribution were also calculated. These eight statistics were used as feature vectors for training Support Vector Machine, and its generalization ability was tested using 10-fold cross-validation. F-measure and accuracy tended to be approximately 0.8 if the maximum in the normalized reflectance and the difference of the maximum and the average in the cross-correlation were chosen as features. In the process of the development of the detection algorithm, we found many cases where the Valles Marineris became clearly brighter than adjacent areas in the blue band. It is at present unclear whether the bright Valles Marineris means the occurrence of water ice clouds inside the Valles Marineris or not. Therefore, subtracted images showing the bright Valles Marineris were excluded from the detection of

  2. Two moment dust and water ice in the MarsWRF GCM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Christopher; Richardson, Mark I.; Newman, Claire E.; Mischna, Michael A.

    2016-10-01

    A new two moment dust and water ice microphysics scheme has been developed for the MarsWRF General Circulation Model based on the Morrison and Gettelman (2008) scheme, and includes temperature dependent nucleation processes and energetically constrained condensation and evaporation. Dust consumed in the formation of water ice is also tracked by the model.The two moment dust scheme simulates dust particles in the Martian atmosphere using a Gamma distribution with fixed radius for lifted particles. Within the atmosphere the particle distribution is advected and sedimented within the two moment framework, obviating the requirement for lossy conversion between the continuous Gamma distribution and discritized bins found in some Mars microphysics schemes. Water ice is simulated using the same Gamma distribution and advected and sedimented in the same way. Water ice nucleation occurs heterogeneously onto dust particles with temperature dependent contact parameters (e.g. Trainer et al., 2009) and condensation and evaporation follows energetic constraints (e.g. Pruppacher and Klett, 1980; Montmessin et al., 2002) allowing water ice particles to grow in size where necessary. Dust particles are tracked within the ice cores as nucleation occurs, and dust cores advect and sediment along with their parent ice particle distributions. Radiative properties of dust and water particles are calculated as a function of the effective radius of the particles and the distribution width. The new microphysics scheme requires 5 tracers to be tracked as the moments of the dust, water ice, and ice core. All microphysical processes are simulated entirely within the two moment framework without any discretization of particle sizes.The effect of this new microphysics scheme on dust and water ice cloud distribution will be discussed and compared with observations from TES and MCS.

  3. Crustacea in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice: distribution, diet and life history strategies.

    PubMed

    Arndt, Carolin E; Swadling, Kerrie M

    2006-01-01

    This review concerns crustaceans that associate with sea ice. Particular emphasis is placed on comparing and contrasting the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice habitats, and the subsequent influence of these environments on the life history strategies of the crustacean fauna. Sea ice is the dominant feature of both polar marine ecosystems, playing a central role in physical processes and providing an essential habitat for organisms ranging in size from viruses to whales. Similarities between the Arctic and Antarctic marine ecosystems include variable cover of sea ice over an annual cycle, a light regimen that can extend from months of total darkness to months of continuous light and a pronounced seasonality in primary production. Although there are many similarities, there are also major differences between the two regions: The Antarctic experiences greater seasonal change in its sea ice extent, much of the ice is over very deep water and more than 80% breaks out each year. In contrast, Arctic sea ice often covers comparatively shallow water, doubles in its extent on an annual cycle and the ice may persist for several decades. Crustaceans, particularly copepods and amphipods, are abundant in the sea ice zone at both poles, either living within the brine channel system of the ice-crystal matrix or inhabiting the ice-water interface. Many species associate with ice for only a part of their life cycle, while others appear entirely dependent upon it for reproduction and development. Although similarities exist between the two faunas, many differences are emerging. Most notable are the much higher abundance and biomass of Antarctic copepods, the dominance of the Antarctic sea ice copepod fauna by calanoids, the high euphausiid biomass in Southern Ocean waters and the lack of any species that appear fully dependent on the ice. In the Arctic, the ice-associated fauna is dominated by amphipods. Calanoid copepods are not tightly associated with the ice, while harpacticoids and

  4. Water/ice phase transition: The role of zirconium acetate, a compound with ice-shaping properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marcellini, Moreno; Fernandes, Francisco M.; Dedovets, Dmytro; Deville, Sylvain

    2017-04-01

    Few compounds feature ice-shaping properties. Zirconium acetate is one of the very few inorganic compounds reported so far to have ice-shaping properties similar to that of ice-shaping proteins, encountered in many organisms living at low temperature. When a zirconium acetate solution is frozen, oriented and perfectly hexagonal ice crystals can be formed and their growth follows the temperature gradient. To shed light on the water/ice phase transition while freezing zirconium acetate solution, we carried out differential scanning calorimetry measurements. From our results, we estimate how many water molecules do not freeze because of their interaction with Zr cations. We estimate the colligative properties of the Zr acetate on the apparent critical temperature. We further show that the phase transition is unaffected by the nature of the base which is used to adjust the pH. Our results provide thus new hints on the ice-shaping mechanism of zirconium acetate.

  5. Water/ice phase transition: The role of zirconium acetate, a compound with ice-shaping properties.

    PubMed

    Marcellini, Moreno; Fernandes, Francisco M; Dedovets, Dmytro; Deville, Sylvain

    2017-04-14

    Few compounds feature ice-shaping properties. Zirconium acetate is one of the very few inorganic compounds reported so far to have ice-shaping properties similar to that of ice-shaping proteins, encountered in many organisms living at low temperature. When a zirconium acetate solution is frozen, oriented and perfectly hexagonal ice crystals can be formed and their growth follows the temperature gradient. To shed light on the water/ice phase transition while freezing zirconium acetate solution, we carried out differential scanning calorimetry measurements. From our results, we estimate how many water molecules do not freeze because of their interaction with Zr cations. We estimate the colligative properties of the Zr acetate on the apparent critical temperature. We further show that the phase transition is unaffected by the nature of the base which is used to adjust the pH. Our results provide thus new hints on the ice-shaping mechanism of zirconium acetate.

  6. Optimal Electromagnetic (EM) Geophysical Techniques to Map the Concentration of Subsurface Ice and Adsorbed Water on Mars and the Moon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stillman, D. E.; Grimm, R. E.

    2013-12-01

    dielectric spectroscopy at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) permafrost tunnel in Fox, AK. We were able to detect the ice relaxation in the subsurface despite the considerable amount of subsurface unfrozen water due to the presence of montmorillonite clay and much warmer temperatures than Mars or permanently shadowed regions of the Moon. While dielectric spectroscopy can be used to determine ice and adsorbed water content it does not possess the high resolution mapping capability of a GPR. Moreover, GPR cannot detect subsurface ice content in ice-sediment mixtures as evidenced in the interpretation of the Medusae Fossae Formation. Orbital radar surveys show this unit has a low attenuation and a dielectric permittivity near 4. This allows the formation to be interpreted as ice-rich or a dry high-porosity volcanic tuff unit. Therefore, combining GPR and dielectric spectroscopy will enable high-resolution structural and volatile mapping of the subsurface. Furthermore, the addition of neutron spectroscopy would add total hydrogen abundance in the top meter. This could lead to the determination of how much hydrogen resides in ice, adsorbed water, and minerals.

  7. Friction at ice-Ih / water interfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Louden, Patrick B.; Gezelter, J. Daniel

    We present evidence that the prismatic and secondary prism facets of ice-Ih crystals possess structural features that alter the effective hydrophilicity of the ice / water interface. This is shown through molecular dynamics simulations of solid-liquid friction, where the prismatic { 10 1 0 } , secondary prism { 11 2 0 } , basal { 0001 } , and pyramidal { 20 2 1 } facets are drawn through liquid water. We find that the two prismatic facets exhibit differential solid-liquid friction coefficients when compared with the basal and pyramidal facets. These results are complemented by a model solid/liquid interface with tunable hydrophilicity. These simulations provide evidence that the two prismatic faces have a significantly smaller effective surface area in contact with the liquid water. The ice / water interfacial widths for all four crystal facets are similar (using both structural and dynamic measures), and were found to be independent of the shear rate. Additionally, decomposition of orientational time correlation functions show position-dependence for the short- and longer-time decay components close to the interface. Support for this project was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant CHE-1362211. Computational time was provided by the Center for Research Computing (CRC) at the University of Notre Dame.

  8. Could the Hokusai Impact Have Delivered Mercury's Water Ice?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ernst, C. M.; Chabot, N. L.; Barnouin, O. S.

    2018-05-01

    Hokusai is the best candidate source crater for Mercury’s water-ice inventory if it was primarily delivered by a single impact event. The Hokusai impact could account for the inventory of water ice on Mercury for impact velocities <30 km/s.

  9. Effects of an Arctic under-ice phytoplankton bloom on bio-optical properties of surface waters during the Norwegian Young Sea Ice Cruise (N-ICE2015)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pavlov, A. K.; Granskog, M. A.; Hudson, S. R.; Taskjelle, T.; Kauko, H.; Hamre, B.; Assmy, P.; Mundy, C. J.; Nicolaus, M.; Kowalczuk, P.; Stedmon, C. A.; Fernandez Mendez, M.

    2016-02-01

    A thinner and younger Arctic sea-ice cover has led to an increase in solar light transmission into the surface ocean, especially during late spring and summer. A description of the seasonal evolution of polar surface water optical properties is essential, in order to understand how changes are affecting light availability for photosynthetic organisms and the surface ocean energy budget. The development of the bio-optical properties of Arctic surface waters under predominantly first-year sea ice in the southern Nansen Basin were studied from January to June 2015 during the Norwegian Young Sea Ice Cruise (N-ICE2015). Observations included inherent optical properties, absorption by colored dissolved organic matter and particles, as well as radiometric measurements. We documented a rapid transition from relatively clear and transparent waters in winter to turbid waters in late May and June. This transition was associated with a strong under-ice phytoplankton bloom detected first under the compact ice pack and then monitored during drift across the marginal ice zone. We discuss potential implications of underwater light availability for photosynthesis, heat redistribution in the upper ocean layer, and energy budget of the sea-ice - ocean system.

  10. Ice-Crystal Fallstreaks from Supercooled Liquid Water Parent Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Campbell, James R.; O'C. Starr, David; Welton, Ellsworth J.; Spinhirne, James D.; Ferrare, Richard A.

    2003-01-01

    On 31 December 2001, ice-crystal fallstreaks (e.g., cirrus uncinus, or colloquially "Mare's Tails") from supercooled liquid water parent clouds were observed by ground-based lidars pointed vertically from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains (SGP) facility near Lamont, Oklahoma. The incidence of liquid phase cloud with apparent ice-phase precipitation is investigated. Scenarios for mixed-phase particle nucleation, and fallstreak formation and sustenance are discussed. The observations are unique in the context of the historical reverence given to the commonly observed c h s uncinus fallstreak (wholly ice) versus this seemingly contradictory coincidence of liquid water begetting ice-crystal streaks.

  11. When Big Ice Turns Into Water It Matters For Houses, Stores And Schools All Over

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bell, R. E.

    2017-12-01

    When ice in my glass turns to water it is not bad but when the big ice at the top and bottom of the world turns into water it is not good. This new water makes many houses, stores and schools wet. It is really bad during when the wind is strong and the rain is hard. New old ice water gets all over the place. We can not get to work or school or home. We go to the big ice at the top and bottom of the world to see if it will turn to water soon and make more houses wet. We fly over the big ice to see how it is doing. Most of the big ice sits on rock. Around the edge of the big sitting on rock ice, is really low ice that rides on top of the water. This really low ice slows down the big rock ice turning into water. If the really low ice cracks up and turns into little pieces of ice, the big rock ice will make more houses wet. We look to see if there is new water in the cracks. Water in the cracks is bad as it hurts the big rock ice. Water in the cracks on the really low ice will turn the low ice into many little pieces of ice. Then the big rock ice will turn to water. That is water in cracks is bad for the houses, schools and businesses. If water moves off the really low ice, it does not stay in the cracks. This is better for the really low ice. This is better for the big rock ice. We took pictures of the really low ice and saw water leaving. The water was not staying in the cracks. Water leaving the really low ice might be good for houses, schools and stores.

  12. Acoustic detection of ice crystals in Antarctic waters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Penrose, John D.; Conde, M.; Pauly, T. J.

    1994-06-01

    During the voyage of the RSV Aurora Australis to the region of Prydz Bay, Antarctica in January-March 1991, ice crystals were encountered at depths from the surface to 125-m in the western area of the bay. On two occasions, crystals were retrieved by netting, and echo sounder records have been used to infer additional regions of occurrence. Acoustic target strength estimates made on the ice crystal assemblies encountered show significant spatial variation, which may relate to crystal size and/or aggregation. Data from a suite of conductivity-temperature-depth casts have been used to map regions of the study area where in situ water temperatures fell below the computed freezing point. Such regions correlate well with those selected on the basis of echogram type and imply that ice crystals occurred at depth over large areas of the bay during the cruise period. The ice crystal distribution described is consistent with that expected from a plume of supercooled water emerging from under the Amery Ice Shelf and forming part of the general circulation of the bay. The magnitude of the supercooled water plume is greater than those reported previously in the Prydz Bay region. If misinterpreted as biota on echo sounder records, ice crystals could significantly bias biomass estimates based on echo integration in this and potentially other areas.

  13. Hydrocarbon biodegradation by Arctic sea-ice and sub-ice microbial communities during microcosm experiments, Northwest Passage (Nunavut, Canada).

    PubMed

    Garneau, Marie-Ève; Michel, Christine; Meisterhans, Guillaume; Fortin, Nathalie; King, Thomas L; Greer, Charles W; Lee, Kenneth

    2016-10-01

    The increasing accessibility to navigation and offshore oil exploration brings risks of hydrocarbon releases in Arctic waters. Bioremediation of hydrocarbons is a promising mitigation strategy but challenges remain, particularly due to low microbial metabolic rates in cold, ice-covered seas. Hydrocarbon degradation potential of ice-associated microbes collected from the Northwest Passage was investigated. Microcosm incubations were run for 15 days at -1.7°C with and without oil to determine the effects of hydrocarbon exposure on microbial abundance, diversity and activity, and to estimate component-specific hydrocarbon loss. Diversity was assessed with automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis and Ion Torrent 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Bacterial activity was measured by (3)H-leucine uptake rates. After incubation, sub-ice and sea-ice communities degraded 94% and 48% of the initial hydrocarbons, respectively. Hydrocarbon exposure changed the composition of sea-ice and sub-ice communities; in sea-ice microcosms, Bacteroidetes (mainly Polaribacter) dominated whereas in sub-ice microcosms, the contribution of Epsilonproteobacteria increased, and that of Alphaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes decreased. Sequencing data revealed a decline in diversity and increases in Colwellia and Moritella in oil-treated microcosms. Low concentration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in sub-ice seawater may explain higher hydrocarbon degradation when compared to sea ice, where DOM was abundant and composed of labile exopolysaccharides. © Fisheries and Oceans Canada [2016].

  14. Surfaces of Ganymede and Callisto: H2O-ice particle sizes and composition of non-ice materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stephan, K.; Hoffmann, H.; Hibbitts, C.; Wagner, R. J.; Jaumann, R.

    2017-12-01

    Band depth ratios (BDRs) of the major H2O-ice absorptions in the NIMS spectra of the Galilean satellites Ganymede and Callisto have been found to be mainly unaffected by the abundance of the dark non-ice material(s) and can be leveraged to provide semi-quantitative indicators of variations in the H2O-ice particle sizes across their surfaces. Interestingly, the derived H2O-ice particle sizes vary continuously with geographic latitude on both satellites. H2O-ice particles on Callisto appear slightly larger at low and mid latitude than observed on Ganymede, whereas the BDR values converge toward the poles indicating similarly small H2O-ice particle sizes for both satellites. This smooth latitudinal trend on both satellites may be related to their surface temperatures and the possible thermal migration of water vapor to higher latitudes and grain welding at lower latitudes. It is not expected that the observed relationship between the BDRs and H2O-ice particle sizes occurs for mixtures with every non-ice material expected to exist on planetary surfaces. Therefore, ice mixtures with a variety of considered non-ice materials such as carbon-rich materials, phyllosilicates and salts have been investigated and the validity of this relationship tested depending on different H2O-ice abundances and particle sizes. The relationship seems to be valid for most materials if the amount of the non-ice material in the mixture does not exceed a few percent or the non-ice component is not hydrated, i.e. does not itself possess water-related bands near 1.4 and 1.9 microns. Best results across the nearly full range of percentage could be achieved for carbon-rich material, iron sulfides, and hydroxylated phyllosilicates, which are expected to be the major constituent of carbonaceous chondrites. In contrast, significant amounts of hydrated material, as identified on Europa, significantly changes the BDRs and cannot fully explain the global trend.

  15. Role of ground ice dynamics and ecological feedbacks in recent ice wedge degradation and stabilization

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mark Torre Jorgenson,; Mikhail Kanevskiy,; Yuri Shur,; Natalia Moskalenko,; Dana Brown,; Wickland, Kimberly P.; Striegl, Robert G.; Koch, Joshua C.

    2015-01-01

    Ground ice is abundant in the upper permafrost throughout the Arctic and fundamentally affects terrain responses to climate warming. Ice wedges, which form near the surface and are the dominant type of massive ice in the Arctic, are particularly vulnerable to warming. Yet processes controlling ice wedge degradation and stabilization are poorly understood. Here we quantified ice wedge volume and degradation rates, compared ground ice characteristics and thermal regimes across a sequence of five degradation and stabilization stages and evaluated biophysical feedbacks controlling permafrost stability near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Mean ice wedge volume in the top 3 m of permafrost was 21%. Imagery from 1949 to 2012 showed thermokarst extent (area of water-filled troughs) was relatively small from 1949 (0.9%) to 1988 (1.5%), abruptly increased by 2004 (6.3%) and increased slightly by 2012 (7.5%). Mean annual surface temperatures varied by 4.9°C among degradation and stabilization stages and by 9.9°C from polygon center to deep lake bottom. Mean thicknesses of the active layer, ice-poor transient layer, ice-rich intermediate layer, thermokarst cave ice, and wedge ice varied substantially among stages. In early stages, thaw settlement caused water to impound in thermokarst troughs, creating positive feedbacks that increased net radiation, soil heat flux, and soil temperatures. Plant growth and organic matter accumulation in the degraded troughs provided negative feedbacks that allowed ground ice to aggrade and heave the surface, thus reducing surface water depth and soil temperatures in later stages. The ground ice dynamics and ecological feedbacks greatly complicate efforts to assess permafrost responses to climate change.

  16. Role of ground ice dynamics and ecological feedbacks in recent ice wedge degradation and stabilization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jorgenson, M. T.; Kanevskiy, M.; Shur, Y.; Moskalenko, N.; Brown, D. R. N.; Wickland, K.; Striegl, R.; Koch, J.

    2015-11-01

    Ground ice is abundant in the upper permafrost throughout the Arctic and fundamentally affects terrain responses to climate warming. Ice wedges, which form near the surface and are the dominant type of massive ice in the Arctic, are particularly vulnerable to warming. Yet processes controlling ice wedge degradation and stabilization are poorly understood. Here we quantified ice wedge volume and degradation rates, compared ground ice characteristics and thermal regimes across a sequence of five degradation and stabilization stages and evaluated biophysical feedbacks controlling permafrost stability near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Mean ice wedge volume in the top 3 m of permafrost was 21%. Imagery from 1949 to 2012 showed thermokarst extent (area of water-filled troughs) was relatively small from 1949 (0.9%) to 1988 (1.5%), abruptly increased by 2004 (6.3%) and increased slightly by 2012 (7.5%). Mean annual surface temperatures varied by 4.9°C among degradation and stabilization stages and by 9.9°C from polygon center to deep lake bottom. Mean thicknesses of the active layer, ice-poor transient layer, ice-rich intermediate layer, thermokarst cave ice, and wedge ice varied substantially among stages. In early stages, thaw settlement caused water to impound in thermokarst troughs, creating positive feedbacks that increased net radiation, soil heat flux, and soil temperatures. Plant growth and organic matter accumulation in the degraded troughs provided negative feedbacks that allowed ground ice to aggrade and heave the surface, thus reducing surface water depth and soil temperatures in later stages. The ground ice dynamics and ecological feedbacks greatly complicate efforts to assess permafrost responses to climate change.

  17. Development of source specific diatom lipids biomarkers as Antarctic Sea Ice proxies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smik, Lukas; Belt, Simon T.; Brown, Thomas A.; Lieser, Jan L.; Armand, Leanne K.; Leventer, Amy; Allen, Claire S.

    2016-04-01

    C25 highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) are lipid biomarkers biosynthesised by a relatively small number of diatom genera, but are, nonetheless, common constituents of global marine sediments. The occurrence and variable abundance of certain C25 highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) biomarkers in Antarctic marine sediments has previously been proposed as a proxy measure of paleo sea-ice extent in the Southern Ocean and a small number of paleo sea-ice reconstructions based on the variable abundances of these HBIs have appeared in recent years. However, the development of HBIs as proxies for Antarctic sea ice is much less advanced than that for IP25 (another HBI) in the Arctic and has been based on relatively small number of analyses in sea ice, water column and sediment samples. To provide further insights into the use of these HBIs as proxies for Antarctic sea ice, we here describe an assessment of their distributions in surface water, surface sediment and sea ice samples collected from a number of Antarctic locations experiencing contrasting sea ice conditions in recent years. Our study shows that distributions of a di-unsaturated HBI (diene II) and tri-unsaturated HBI (triene III) in surface water samples were found to be extremely sensitive to the local sea-ice conditions, with diene II detected for sampling sites that experienced seasonal sea ice and highest concentrations found in coastal locations with longer-lasting ice cover and a recurrent polynya. In contrast, triene III was observed in all of the samples analysed, but with highest concentrations within the region of the retreating sea ice edge, an observation consistent with significant environmental control over the biosynthesis of diene II and triene III by sea ice diatoms and open water phytoplankton, respectively. However, additional local factors, such as those associated with polynya formation, may also exert some control over the distribution of triene III and the relative concentrations of diene II and

  18. Hexagonal ice in pure water and biological NMR samples.

    PubMed

    Bauer, Thomas; Gath, Julia; Hunkeler, Andreas; Ernst, Matthias; Böckmann, Anja; Meier, Beat H

    2017-01-01

    Ice, in addition to "liquid" water and protein, is an important component of protein samples for NMR spectroscopy at subfreezing temperatures but it has rarely been observed spectroscopically in this context. We characterize its spectroscopic behavior in the temperature range from 100 to 273 K, and find that it behaves like pure water ice. The interference of magic-angle spinning (MAS) as well as rf multiple-pulse sequences with Bjerrum-defect motion greatly influences the ice spectra.

  19. Perennial water ice identified in the south polar cap of Mars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bibring, Jean-Pierre; Langevin, Yves; Poulet, François; Gendrin, Aline; Gondet, Brigitte; Berthé, Michel; Soufflot, Alain; Drossart, Pierre; Combes, Michel; Bellucci, Giancarlo; Moroz, Vassili; Mangold, Nicolas; Schmitt, Bernard; OMEGA Team; Erard, S.; Forni, O.; Manaud, N.; Poulleau, G.; Encrenaz, T.; Fouchet, T.; Melchiorri, R.; Altieri, F.; Formisano, V.; Bonello, G.; Fonti, S.; Capaccioni, F.; Cerroni, P.; Coradini, A.; Kottsov, V.; Ignatiev, N.; Titov, D.; Zasova, L.; Pinet, P.; Sotin, C.; Hauber, E.; Hoffman, H.; Jaumann, R.; Keller, U.; Arvidson, R.; Mustard, J.; Duxbury, T.; Forget, F.

    2004-04-01

    The inventory of water and carbon dioxide reservoirs on Mars are important clues for understanding the geological, climatic and potentially exobiological evolution of the planet. From the early mapping observation of the permanent ice caps on the martian poles, the northern cap was believed to be mainly composed of water ice, whereas the southern cap was thought to be constituted of carbon dioxide ice. However, recent missions (NASA missions Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey) have revealed surface structures, altimetry profiles, underlying buried hydrogen, and temperatures of the south polar regions that are thermodynamically consistent with a mixture of surface water ice and carbon dioxide. Here we present the first direct identification and mapping of both carbon dioxide and water ice in the martian high southern latitudes, at a resolution of 2km, during the local summer, when the extent of the polar ice is at its minimum. We observe that this south polar cap contains perennial water ice in extended areas: as a small admixture to carbon dioxide in the bright regions; associated with dust, without carbon dioxide, at the edges of this bright cap; and, unexpectedly, in large areas tens of kilometres away from the bright cap.

  20. Patterns of Macrozooplankton and Fish Occurrence Beneath McMurdo Sound Fast Ice during Spring/Summer 2014/2015

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Saenz, B. T.; Daly, K. L.; Kim, S.; Ainley, D. G.; Ballard, G.

    2016-02-01

    McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, represents a unique environment for study of trophic interactions, where a full complement of marine predators thrive. As part of a greater study of McMurdo Sound food web interactions, including ocean and ice physics, algal characterization, and predator behavior, macrozooplankton and fish were surveyed using bioacoustics and video using a specially-designed under-ice ROV. Acoustic returns from 82 under-ice surveys were divided into classes consisting of krill, silverfish, and weak scatters. Krill were scarce during surveys in late November, but increased in abundance in association with increasing chlorophyll a in December and early January when surveys ended. The greatest concentrations of krill were found near Ross Island in the eastern Sound, where southerly currents move high-productivity waters beneath the fast ice. Conversely, silverfish, especially schools of juveniles, were found in greater abundance toward the west where currents flow northward and platelet ice typically blocked light from surface waters. Silverfish were rare toward the end of the survey in late December/early January, but possibly had moved deeper than the acoustic instrument could detect. Overall, krill were less abundant and occurred deeper in the water column within 2 km of the fast ice edge, which was accessible by air-breathing predators, suggesting that predation pressure helped structure krill abundance or distribution. Acoustic returns from weak scatters, which included observed jellies, pteropods, detached ice algae and potentially other mesoplankton in high abundance such as copepods, also increased during the study period and co-occurred with chlorophyll a. The patterns of macrozooplankton and fish observed in McMurdo Sound raise important questions about source-sink dynamics, overwinter strategies of mid-trophic organisms, prey-predator dynamics, and sea-ice structuring of ecosystems.

  1. Efficacy of sanitized ice in reducing bacterial load on fish fillet and in the water collected from the melted ice.

    PubMed

    Feliciano, Lizanel; Lee, Jaesung; Lopes, John A; Pascall, Melvin A

    2010-05-01

    This study investigated the efficacy of sanitized ice for the reduction of bacteria in the water collected from the ice that melted during storage of whole and filleted Tilapia fish. Also, bacterial reductions on the fish fillets were investigated. The sanitized ice was prepared by freezing solutions of PRO-SAN (an organic acid formulation) and neutral electrolyzed water (NEW). For the whole fish study, the survival of the natural microflora was determined from the water of the melted ice prepared with PRO-SAN and tap water. These water samples were collected during an 8 h storage period. For the fish fillet study, samples were inoculated with Escherichia coli K12, Listeria innocua, and Pseudomonas putida then stored on crushed sanitized ice. The efficacies of these were tested by enumerating each bacterial species on the fish fillet and in the water samples at 12 and 24 h intervals for 72 h, respectively. Results showed that each bacterial population was reduced during the test. However, a bacterial reduction of < 1 log CFU was obtained for the fillet samples. A maximum of approximately 2 log CFU and > 3 log CFU reductions were obtained in the waters sampled after the storage of whole fish and the fillets, respectively. These reductions were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the water from sanitized ice when compared with the water from the unsanitized melted ice. These results showed that the organic acid formulation and NEW considerably reduced the bacterial numbers in the melted ice and thus reduced the potential for cross-contamination.

  2. Caltech water-ice dusty plasma: preliminary results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bellan, Paul; Chai, Kilbyoung

    2013-10-01

    A water-ice dusty plasma laboratory experiment has begun operation at Caltech. As in Ref., a 1-5 watt parallel-plate 13.56 MHz rf discharge plasma has LN2-cooled electrodes that cool the neutral background gas to cryogenic temperatures. However, instead of creating water vapor by in-situ deuterium-oxygen bonding, here the neutral gas is argon and water vapor is added in a controlled fashion. Ice grains spontaneously form after a few seconds. Photography with a HeNe line filter of a sheet of HeNe laser light sheet illuminating a cross section of dust grains shows a large scale whorl pattern composed of concentric sub-whorls having wave-like spatially varying intensity. Each sub-whorl is composed of very evenly separated fine-scale stream-lines indicating that the ice grains move in self-organized lanes like automobiles on a multi-line highway. HeNe laser extinction together with an estimate of dust density from the intergrain spacing in photographs indicates a 5 micron nominal dust grain radius. HeNe laser diffraction patterns indicate the ice dust grains are large and ellipsoidal at low pressure (200 mT) but small and spheroidal at high pressure (>600 mT). Supported by USDOE.

  3. Hemispheric asymmetry in martian seasonal surface water ice from MGS TES

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bapst, Jonathan; Bandfield, Joshua L.; Wood, Stephen E.

    2015-11-01

    The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) visible/near-infrared and thermal infrared bolometers measured planetary broadband albedo and temperature for more than three Mars years. As seasons progress on Mars, surface temperatures may fall below the frost point of volatiles in the atmosphere (namely, carbon dioxide and water). Systematic mapping of the spatial and temporal occurrence of these volatiles in the martian atmosphere, on the surface, and in the subsurface has shown their importance in understanding the climate of Mars. We examine TES daytime albedo, temperature, and atmospheric opacity data to map the latitudinal and temporal occurrence of seasonal surface water frost on Mars. We expand on previous work by looking at the behavior of water frost over the entire martian year, made possible with comprehensive, multi-year data. Interpretations of frost are based on albedo changes and the corresponding daytime temperature range. Data is considered consistent with water frost when there are significant albedo increases (>0.05 relative to frost-free seasons) and the observed temperatures are ∼170-200 K. We argue the presence of extensive water frost in the northern hemisphere, extending from the pole to ∼40°N, following seasonal temperature trends. In the north, water frost first appears near the pole at Ls = ∼160° and is last observed at Ls = ∼90°. Extensive water frost is less evident in southern hemisphere data, though both hemispheres show data that are consistent with the presence of a water ice annulus during seasonal cap retreat. Hemispherical asymmetry in the occurrence of seasonal water frost is due in part to the lower (∼40%) atmospheric water vapor abundances observed in the southern hemisphere. Our results are consistent with net transport of water vapor to the northern hemisphere. The deposition and sublimation of seasonal water frost may significantly increase the near-surface water vapor density that could

  4. Exposure of Water Ice in the Northern Mid-lattitudes of Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Allen, Carlton C.; Kanner, Lisa C.

    2007-01-01

    Water ice is exposed in the martian north polar cap, and is occasionally exposed beyond the cap boundary. Orbital gamma ray spectrometry data strongly imply the presence of water ice within meters of the surface at latitudes north of approximately 60 deg. We have examined midlatitude areas of the northern plains displaying evidence of residual ice-rich layers, and report possible present-day exposures of ice. These exposures, if confirmed, could constrain the latitudinal and temporal stability of surface ice on Mars.

  5. Atlantic Water Advection and Ice Sheet-Ocean Feedbacks in the Arctic Ocean During the Last 200 ky

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spielhagen, R. F.; Mackensen, A.; Stein, R. H.

    2016-12-01

    Earlier work on Arctic deep-sea cores from the eastern Lomonosov Ridge and the Morris Jesup Rise had revealed that large-scale Eurasian ice sheet growth was initiated at times with seasonally open waters in the Arctic Ocean, indicating a role for the ocean in nearby ice sheet development in the last 200 ky. Here we present microfossil and geochemical data from new sediment cores obtained from the western and easternmost Lomonosov Ridge during the PS87 expedition (2014) of RV Polarstern, amended by data from refined analyses of the older cores. They allow to investigate in more detail the feedbacks between Atlantic Water (AW) advection, sea ice, and ice sheets. In all cores, high microfossil abundances are found just below layers rich in iceberg-rafted detritus, supporting the hypothesis of Arctic Ocean moisture supply for the growth of Eurasian ice sheets. On the other hand, the new microfaunal results suggest that the decay of the ice sheets and the enhanced freshwater discharge to the Arctic may have influenced the routing of subsurface AW in the Arctic Ocean, at least during marine isotope (sub)stages (MIS) 5a and 5e. In the early part of these relatively mild climatic intervals, faunal and isotopic data suggest a noticable advection of Atlantic Water, yet of rather low temperature and likely at depths comparable to the modern distribution (i.e., below 150 m) or even deeper. This may be explained by a more southerly position of AW cooling and submergence than today, caused by a thick layer of low saline waters near the surface which stemmed from the slow melting of ice sheet remnants on the Eurasian continent and shelves. In the second half of both MIS 5a and 5e, AW advection was significantly stronger and may have occurred at shallower depths, as indicated by unusually large amounts of small subpolar planktic foraminifers in central Arctic sediments. AW was apparently diverted northward from the Fram Strait and spread eastward along the Lomonosov Ridge. A

  6. Freezing Temperatures, Ice Nanotubes Structures, and Proton Ordering of TIP4P/ICE Water inside Single Wall Carbon Nanotubes.

    PubMed

    Pugliese, P; Conde, M M; Rovere, M; Gallo, P

    2017-11-16

    A very recent experimental paper importantly and unexpectedly showed that water in carbon nanotubes is already in the solid ordered phase at the temperature where bulk water boils. The water models used so far in literature for molecular dynamics simulations in carbon nanotubes show freezing temperatures lower than the experiments. We present here results from molecular dynamics simulations of water inside single walled carbon nanotubes using an extremely realistic model for both liquid and icy water, the TIP4P/ICE. The water behavior inside nanotubes of different diameters has been studied upon cooling along the isobars at ambient pressure starting from temperatures where water is in a liquid state. We studied the liquid/solid transition, and we observed freezing temperatures higher than in bulk water and that depend on the diameter of the nanotube. The maximum freezing temperature found is 390 K, which is in remarkable agreement with the recent experimental measurements. We have also analyzed the ice structure called "ice nanotube" that water forms inside the single walled carbon nanotubes when it freezes. The ice forms observed are in agreement with previous results obtained with different water models. A novel finding, a partial proton ordering, is evidenced in our ice nanotubes at finite temperature.

  7. Thermal stability of water ice in Ceres' crater Oxo

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Formisano, Michelangelo; Federico, Costanzo; De Sanctis, Maria Cristina; Frigeri, Alessandro; Magni, Gianfranco; Tosi, Federico

    2016-10-01

    Dwarf planet Ceres, target of the NASA Dawn mission, exhibits evidences of ammoniated phyllosilicates on its surface [1], compatible with a likely outer Solar System origin. Considerable amounts of water ice have recently been detected in some craters by the Visible InfraRed mapping spectrometer (VIR) onboard Dawn in some small fresh crater, such as Oxo, located at about 40° N. The exposure mechanism of water ice is unknown: cryovolcanism, cometary type sublimation/recondensation [2]or impacts with other bodies are likely mechanisms. The evaluation of the time stability of the water ice is crucial to understand the plausible mechanism for its existence. For this purpose, we developed a 3D finite-elements model (FEM) by using the topography given by the shape model of Ceres derived on the basis of images acquired by the Framing Camera in the Survey mission phase. The illumination conditions are provided by the SPICE toolkit. We performed several simulations by analyzing the effect of thermal inertia and albedo on the temperature and rate of ice sublimation. The results of the simulations about the stability of water ice will be presented.[1] De Sanctis et al. NATURE, doi:10.1038/nature16172[2] Formisano et al. MNRAS, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stv2344

  8. Mixing water ice into regolith in low-velocity impact experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brisset, J.; Colwell, J. E.; Dove, A.; Rascon, A. N.; Mohammed, N.; Cox, C.

    2016-12-01

    Collisions between dust and ice grains of different sizes lead to particle growth both in Saturn's rings and in the protoplanetary disk (PPD). Low-velocity collisions (a few m/s or less) among ring or PPD particles produce ejecta and play an important role in this growth process as ejected particles accrete on larger grains. We report on the results of a series of experiments to study the ejecta mass-velocity distribution from impacts of cm-scale particles into granular media at speeds below 3 m/s. These experiments were performed using the lunar regolith simulant JSC-1 in both microgravity and 1-g conditions, under vacuum and at room temperature. As most planetesimal formation occurred beyond the frost line and as Satrun's rings particles are mostly composed of water ice, we proceeded to perform impact experiments at 1-g into JSC-1 lunar regolith simulant mixed with water ice particles at low temperatures (<150 K). We will present the results of the cryogenic impacts and compare them to the study performed at room temperature without water ice. The inclusion of water ice into the target sample is a first step towards better understanding the influence of the presence of water ice in the production of ejecta in response to low-velocity impacts. We will discuss the implications of our results for planetary ring particle collisions as well as planetesimal formation.

  9. High Ice Water Content at Low Radar Reflectivity near Deep Convection: Part II. Evaluation of Microphysical Pathways in Updraft Parcel Simulations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ackerman, A. S.; Fridlind, A. M.; Grandin, A.; Dezitter, F.; Weber, M.; Strapp, J. W.; Korolev, A. V.

    2015-01-01

    The aeronautics industry has established that a threat to aircraft is posed by atmospheric conditions of substantial ice water content (IWC) where equivalent radar reflectivity (Ze) does not exceed 20-30 dBZ and supercooled water is not present; these conditions are encountered almost exclusively in the vicinity of deep convection. Part 1 (Fridlind et al., 2015) of this two-part study presents in situ measurements of such conditions sampled by Airbus in three tropical regions, commonly near 11 km and -43 C, and concludes that the measured ice particle size distributions are broadly consistent with past literature with profiling radar measurements of Z(sub e) and mean Doppler velocity obtained within monsoonal deep convection in one of the regions sampled. In all three regions, the Airbus measurements generally indicate variable IWC that often exceeds 2 gm (exp -3) with relatively uniform mass median area-equivalent diameter (MMD(sub eq) of 200-300 micrometers. Here we use a parcel model with size-resolved microphysics to investigate microphysical pathways that could lead to such conditions. Our simulations indicate that homogeneous freezing of water drops produces a much smaller ice MMD(sub eq) than observed, and occurs only in the absence of hydrometeor gravitational collection for the conditions considered. Development of a mass mode of ice aloft that overlaps with the measurements requires a substantial source of small ice particles at temperatures of about -10 C or warmer, which subsequently grow from water vapor. One conceivable source in our simulation framework is Hallett-Mossop ice production; another is abundant concentrations of heterogeneous ice freezing nuclei acting together with copious shattering of water drops upon freezing. Regardless of the production mechanism, the dominant mass modal diameter of vapor-grown ice is reduced as the ice-multiplication source strength increases and as competition for water vapor increases. Both mass and modal

  10. A scheme for parameterizing ice cloud water content in general circulation models

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heymsfield, Andrew J.; Donner, Leo J.

    1989-01-01

    A method for specifying ice water content in GCMs is developed, based on theory and in-cloud measurements. A theoretical development of the conceptual precipitation model is given and the aircraft flights used to characterize the ice mass distribution in deep ice clouds is discussed. Ice water content values derived from the theoretical parameterization are compared with the measured values. The results demonstrate that a simple parameterization for atmospheric ice content can account for ice contents observed in several synoptic contexts.

  11. Convection Models for Ice-Water System: Dynamical Investigation of Phase Transition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Allu Peddinti, D.; McNamara, A. K.

    2012-12-01

    Ever since planetary missions of Voyager and Galileo revealed a dynamically altered surface of the icy moon Europa, a possible subsurface ocean under an icy shell has been speculated and surface features have been interpreted from an interior dynamics perspective. The physics of convection in a two phase water-ice system is governed by a wide set of physical parameters that include melting viscosity of ice, the variation of viscosity due to pressure and temperature, temperature contrast across and tidal heating within the system, and the evolving thickness of each layer. Due to the extreme viscosity contrast between liquid water and solid ice, it is not feasible to model the entire system to study convection. However, using a low-viscosity proxy (higher viscosity than the liquid water but much lower than solid ice) for the liquid phase provides a convenient approximation of the system, and allows for a relatively realistic representation of convection within the ice layer while also providing a self-consistent ice layer thickness that is a function of the thermal state of the system. In order to apply this method appropriately, we carefully examine the upper bound of viscosity required for the low-viscosity proxy to adequately represent the liquid phase. We identify upper bounds on the viscosity of the proxy liquid such that convective dynamics of the ice are not affected by further reductions of viscosity. Furthermore, we investigate how the temperature contrast across the system and viscosity contrast between liquid and ice control ice layer thickness. We also investigate ice shell thickening as a function of cooling, particularly how viscosity affects the conduction-to-convection transition within the ice shell. Finally, we present initial results that investigate the effects that latent heat of fusion (due to the ice-water phase transition) has on ice convection.

  12. Seasonal Outflow of Ice Shelf Water Across the Front of the Filchner Ice Shelf, Weddell Sea, Antarctica

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Darelius, E.; Sallée, J. B.

    2018-04-01

    The ice shelf water (ISW) found in the Filchner Trough, located in the southern Weddell Sea, Antarctica, is climatically important; it descends into the deep Weddell Sea contributing to bottom water formation, and it blocks warm off-shelf waters from accessing the Filchner ice shelf cavity. Yet the circulation of ISW within the Filchner Trough and the processes determining its exchange across the ice shelf front are to a large degree unknown. Here mooring records from the ice shelf front are presented, the longest of which is 4 years long. They show that the coldest (Θ =- 2.3∘C) ISW, which originates from the Ronne Trough in the west, exits the cavity across the western part of the ice shelf front during late austral summer and early autumn. The supercooled ISW escaping the cavity flows northward with a velocity of about 0.03 m/s. During the rest of the year, there is no outflow at the western site: the current is directed eastward, parallel to the ice shelf front, and the temperatures at the mooring site are slightly higher (Θ =- 2.0∘C). The eastern records show a more persistent outflow of ISW.

  13. Cavitation and water fluxes driven by ice water potential in Juglans regia during freeze-thaw cycles.

    PubMed

    Charra-Vaskou, Katline; Badel, Eric; Charrier, Guillaume; Ponomarenko, Alexandre; Bonhomme, Marc; Foucat, Loïc; Mayr, Stefan; Améglio, Thierry

    2016-02-01

    Freeze-thaw cycles induce major hydraulic changes due to liquid-to-ice transition within tree stems. The very low water potential at the ice-liquid interface is crucial as it may cause lysis of living cells as well as water fluxes and embolism in sap conduits, which impacts whole tree-water relations. We investigated water fluxes induced by ice formation during freeze-thaw cycles in Juglans regia L. stems using four non-invasive and complementary approaches: a microdendrometer, magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray microtomography, and ultrasonic acoustic emissions analysis. When the temperature dropped, ice nucleation occurred, probably in the cambium or pith areas, inducing high water potential gradients within the stem. The water was therefore redistributed within the stem toward the ice front. We could thus observe dehydration of the bark's living cells leading to drastic shrinkage of this tissue, as well as high tension within wood conduits reaching the cavitation threshold in sap vessels. Ultrasonic emissions, which were strictly emitted only during freezing, indicated cavitation events (i.e. bubble formation) following ice formation in the xylem sap. However, embolism formation (i.e. bubble expansion) in stems was observed only on thawing via X-ray microtomography for the first time on the same sample. Ultrasonic emissions were detected during freezing and were not directly related to embolism formation. These results provide new insights into the complex process and dynamics of water movements and ice formation during freeze-thaw cycles in tree stems. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

  14. POROSITY AND BAND-STRENGTH MEASUREMENTS OF MULTI-PHASE COMPOSITE ICES

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bossa, Jean-Baptiste; Fransen, Coen; Cazaux, Stéphanie

    2015-11-20

    We use experimental mid-infrared optical constants and extended effective medium approximations to determine the porosity and the band strengths of multi-phase composite ices grown at 30 K. A set of porous H{sub 2}O:CH{sub 4} ices are taken as a prototypical example. As a benchmark and proof of concept, the stoichiometry of the ice constituents is retreived with good accuracy from the refractive indices and the extinction coefficients of the reference binary ice mixtures with known compositions. Accurate band strengths are then calculated from experimental mid-infrared spectra of complex ices. We notice that the presence of pores has only a smallmore » effect on the overall band strengths, whereas a water dilution can considerably alter them. Different levels of porosity are observed depending on the abundance of methane used as a gas contaminant premixed with water prior to background deposition. The absorption profiles are also found to vary with deposition rate. To explain this, we use Monte Carlo simulations and we observe that the deposition rate strongly affects the pore size distribution as well as the ice morphology through reorganization processes. Extrapolated to genuine interstellar ices, the methodology presented in this paper can be used to evaluate the porosity and to quantify the relative abundances from observational data.« less

  15. Ice swimming - 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event'.

    PubMed

    Knechtle, Beat; Rosemann, Thomas; Rüst, Christoph A

    2015-01-01

    Ice swimming for 1 mile and 1 km is a new discipline in open-water swimming since 2009. This study examined female and male performances in swimming 1 mile ('Ice Mile') and 1 km ('1 km Ice event') in water of 5 °C or colder between 2009 and 2015 with the hypothesis that women would be faster than men. Between 2009 and 2015, 113 men and 38 women completed one 'Ice Mile' and 26 men and 13 completed one '1 km Ice event' in water colder than +5 °C following the rules of International Ice Swimming Association (IISA). Differences in performance between women and men were determined. Sex difference (%) was calculated using the equation ([time for women] - [time for men]/[time for men] × 100). For 'Ice Mile', a mixed-effects regression model with interaction analyses was used to investigate the influence of sex and environmental conditions on swimming speed. The association between water temperature and swimming speed was assessed using Pearson correlation analyses. For 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event', the best men were faster than the best women. In 'Ice Mile', calendar year, number of attempts, water temperature and wind chill showed no association with swimming speed for both women and men. For both women and men, water temperature was not correlated to swimming speed in both 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event'. In water colder than 5 °C, men were faster than women in 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event'. Water temperature showed no correlation to swimming speed.

  16. Increased Water Storage at Ice-stream Onsets: A Critical Mechanism?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bindschadler, Robert; Choi, Hyeungu

    2007-01-01

    The interdependence of rapid ice flow, surface topography and the spatial distribution of subglacial water are examined by linking existing theories. The motivation is to investigate whether the acceleration of an ice-stream tributary contains a positive feedback that encourages the retention of subglacial water that leads to faster flow. Periodically varying surface and bed topographies are related through a linear ice-flow perturbation theory for various values of mean surface slope, perturbation amplitude and basal sliding speeds. The topographic variations lead to a periodic variation in hydraulic potential that is used to infer the tendency for subglacial water to be retained in local hydraulic potential minima. If water retention leads to enhanced basal sliding, a positive feedback loop is closed that could explain the transition from slower tributary flow to faster-streaming flow and the sustained downstream acceleration along the tributary-ice-stream system. A sensitivity study illustrates that the same range of topographic wavelengths most effectively transmitted from the bed to the surface also strongly influences the behavior of subglacial water. A lubrication index is defined to qualitatively measure the heterogeneity of the subglacial hydrologic system. Application of this index to field data shows that the transition from tributary to ice stream closely agrees with the location where subglacial water may be first stored.

  17. The impact of radiatively active water-ice clouds on Martian mesoscale atmospheric circulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Spiga, A.; Madeleine, J.-B.; Hinson, D.; Navarro, T.; Forget, F.

    2014-04-01

    Background and Goals Water ice clouds are a key component of the Martian climate [1]. Understanding the properties of the Martian water ice clouds is crucial to constrain the Red Planet's climate and hydrological cycle both in the present and in the past [2]. In recent years, this statement have become all the more true as it was shown that the radiative effects of water ice clouds is far from being as negligible as hitherto believed; water ice clouds plays instead a key role in the large-scale thermal structure and dynamics of the Martian atmosphere [3, 4, 5]. Nevertheless, the radiative effect of water ice clouds at lower scales than the large synoptic scale (the so-called meso-scales) is still left to be explored. Here we use for the first time mesoscale modeling with radiatively active water ice clouds to address this open question.

  18. Investigation of heterogeneous ice nucleation in pollen suspensions and washing water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dreischmeier, Katharina; Budke, Carsten; Koop, Thomas

    2014-05-01

    Biological particles such as pollen often show ice nucleation activity at temperatures higher than -20 °C. Immersion freezing experiments of pollen washing water demonstrate comparable ice nucleation behaviour as water containing the whole pollen bodies (Pummer et al., 2012). It was suggested that polysaccharide molecules leached from the grains are responsible for the ice nucleation. Here, heterogeneous ice nucleation in birch pollen suspensions and their washing water was investigated by two different experimental methods. The optical freezing array BINARY (Bielefeld Ice Nucleation ARraY) allows the direct observation of freezing of microliter-sized droplets. The IN spectra obtained from such experiments with birch pollen suspensions over a large concentration range indicate several different ice nucleation active species, two of which are present also in the washing water. The latter was probed also in differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) experiments of emulsified sub-picoliter droplets. Due to the small droplet size in the emulsion samples and at small concentration of IN in the washing water, such DSC experiments can exhibit the ice nucleation behaviour of a single nucleus. The two heterogeneous freezing signals observed in the DSC thermograms can be assigned to two different kinds of ice nuclei, confirming the observation from the BINARY measurements, and also previous studies on Swedish birch pollen washing water (Augustin et al., 2012). The authors gratefully acknowledge funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG) through the project BIOCLOUDS (KO 2944/1-1) and through the research unit INUIT (FOR 1525) under KO 2944/2-1. We particularly thank our INUIT partners for fruitful collaboration and sharing of ideas and IN samples. S. Augustin, H. Wex, D. Niedermeier, B. Pummer, H. Grothe, S. Hartmann, L. Tomsche, T. Clauss, J. Voigtländer, K. Ignatius, and F. Stratmann, Immersion freezing of birch pollen washing water, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10989

  19. Microbial communities in the subglacial waters of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland

    PubMed Central

    Thór Marteinsson, Viggó; Rúnarsson, Árni; Stefánsson, Andri; Thorsteinsson, Thorsteinn; Jóhannesson, Tómas; Magnússon, Sveinn H; Reynisson, Eyjólfur; Einarsson, Bergur; Wade, Nicole; Morrison, Hilary G; Gaidos, Eric

    2013-01-01

    Subglacial lakes beneath the Vatnajökull ice cap in Iceland host endemic communities of microorganisms adapted to cold, dark and nutrient-poor waters, but the mechanisms by which these microbes disseminate under the ice and colonize these lakes are unknown. We present new data on this subglacial microbiome generated from samples of two subglacial lakes, a subglacial flood and a lake that was formerly subglacial but now partly exposed to the atmosphere. These data include parallel 16S rRNA gene amplicon libraries constructed using novel primers that span the v3–v5 and v4–v6 hypervariable regions. Archaea were not detected in either subglacial lake, and the communities are dominated by only five bacterial taxa. Our paired libraries are highly concordant for the most abundant taxa, but estimates of diversity (abundance-based coverage estimator) in the v4–v6 libraries are 3–8 times higher than in corresponding v3–v5 libraries. The dominant taxa are closely related to cultivated anaerobes and microaerobes, and may occupy unique metabolic niches in a chemoautolithotrophic ecosystem. The populations of the major taxa in the subglacial lakes are indistinguishable (>99% sequence identity), despite separation by 6 km and an ice divide; one taxon is ubiquitous in our Vatnajökull samples. We propose that the glacial bed is connected through an aquifer in the underlying permeable basalt, and these subglacial lakes are colonized from a deeper, subterranean microbiome. PMID:22975882

  20. Forced convective melting at an evolving ice-water interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramudu, Eshwan; Hirsh, Benjamin; Olson, Peter; Gnanadesikan, Anand

    2015-11-01

    The intrusion of warm Circumpolar Deep Water into the ocean cavity between the base of ice shelves and the sea bed in Antarctica causes melting at the ice shelves' basal surface, producing a turbulent melt plume. We conduct a series of laboratory experiments to investigate how the presence of forced convection (turbulent mixing) changes the delivery of heat to the ice-water interface. We also develop a theoretical model for the heat balance of the system that can be used to predict the change in ice thickness with time. In cases of turbulent mixing, the heat balance includes a term for turbulent heat transfer that depends on the friction velocity and an empirical coefficient. We obtain a new value for this coefficient by comparing the modeled ice thickness against measurements from a set of nine experiments covering one order of magnitude of Reynolds numbers. Our results are consistent with the altimetry-inferred melting rate under Antarctic ice shelves and can be used in climate models to predict their disintegration. This work was supported by NSF grant EAR-110371.

  1. Surface water hydrology and the Greenland Ice Sheet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, L. C.; Yang, K.; Pitcher, L. H.; Overstreet, B. T.; Chu, V. W.; Rennermalm, A. K.; Cooper, M. G.; Gleason, C. J.; Ryan, J.; Hubbard, A.; Tedesco, M.; Behar, A.

    2016-12-01

    Mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet now exceeds 260 Gt/year, raising global sea level by >0.7 mm annually. Approximately two-thirds of this total mass loss is now driven by negative ice sheet surface mass balance (SMB), attributed mainly to production and runoff of meltwater from the ice sheet surface. This new dominance of runoff as a driver of GrIS total mass loss will likely persist owing to anticipated further increases in surface melting, reduced meltwater storage in firn, and the waning importance of dynamical mass losses (ice calving) as the ice sheets retreat from their marine-terminating margins. It also creates the need and opportunity for integrative research pairing traditional surface water hydrology approaches with glaciology. As one example, we present a way to measure supraglacial "runoff" (i.e. specific discharge) at the supraglacial catchment scale ( 101-102 km2), using in situ measurements of supraglacial river discharge and high-resolution satellite/drone mapping of upstream catchment area. This approach, which is standard in terrestrial hydrology but novel for ice sheet science, enables independent verification and improvement of modeled SMB runoff estimates used to project sea level rise. Furthermore, because current SMB models do not consider the role of fluvial watershed processes operating on the ice surface, inclusion of even a simple surface routing model materially improves simulations of runoff delivered to moulins, the critical pathways for meltwater entry into the ice sheet. Incorporating principles of surface water hydrology and fluvial geomorphology and into glaciological models will thus aid estimates of Greenland meltwater runoff to the global ocean as well as connections to subglacial hydrology and ice sheet dynamics.

  2. Ice dynamics of Heinrich events: Insights and implications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alley, R. B.; Parizek, B. R.; Anandakrishnan, S.

    2017-12-01

    Physical understanding of ice flow provides important constraints on Heinrich (H) events, which in turn provide lessons for ice dynamics and future sea-level change. Iceberg-rafted debris (IRD), the defining feature of H events, is a complex indicator; however, in cold climates with extensive marine-ending ice, increased IRD flux records ice-shelf loss. Ice shelves fed primarily by inflow from grounded ice experience net basal melting, giving sub-ice-sedimentation rather than open-ocean IRD. Ice-shelf loss has been observed recently in response to atmospheric warming increasing surface meltwater that wedged open crevasses (Larsen B), but also by break-off following thinning from warming of waters reaching the grounding line (Jakobshavn). The H events consistently occurred during cold times resulting from reduced North Atlantic overturning circulation ("conveyor"), but as argued by Marcott et al. (PNAS 2011), this was accompanied by delayed warming at grounding-line depths of the Hudson Strait ice stream, the source of the Heinrich layers, implicating oceanic control. As shown in a rich literature, additional considerations involving thermal state of the ice-stream bed, isostasy and probably other processes influenced why some reduced-conveyor events triggered H-events while others did not. Ice shelves, including the inferred Hudson Strait ice shelf, typically exist in high-salinity, cold waters produced by brine rejection from sea-ice formation, which are the coldest abundant waters in the world ocean. Thus, almost any change in air or ocean temperature, winds or currents can remove ice shelves, because "replacement" water masses are typically warmer. And, because ice shelves almost invariably slow flow of non-floating ice into the ocean, climatic perturbations to regions with ice shelves typically lead to sea-level rise, with important implications.

  3. The phase diagram of water at negative pressures: virtual ices.

    PubMed

    Conde, M M; Vega, C; Tribello, G A; Slater, B

    2009-07-21

    The phase diagram of water at negative pressures as obtained from computer simulations for two models of water, TIP4P/2005 and TIP5P is presented. Several solid structures with lower densities than ice Ih, so-called virtual ices, were considered as possible candidates to occupy the negative pressure region of the phase diagram of water. In particular the empty hydrate structures sI, sII, and sH and another, recently proposed, low-density ice structure. The relative stabilities of these structures at 0 K was determined using empirical water potentials and density functional theory calculations. By performing free energy calculations and Gibbs-Duhem integration the phase diagram of TIP4P/2005 was determined at negative pressures. The empty hydrates sII and sH appear to be the stable solid phases of water at negative pressures. The phase boundary between ice Ih and sII clathrate occurs at moderate negative pressures, while at large negative pressures sH becomes the most stable phase. This behavior is in reasonable agreement with what is observed in density functional theory calculations.

  4. Cavitation and water fluxes driven by ice water potential in Juglans regia during freeze–thaw cycles

    PubMed Central

    Charra-Vaskou, Katline; Badel, Eric; Charrier, Guillaume; Ponomarenko, Alexandre; Bonhomme, Marc; Foucat, Loïc; Mayr, Stefan; Améglio, Thierry

    2016-01-01

    Freeze–thaw cycles induce major hydraulic changes due to liquid-to-ice transition within tree stems. The very low water potential at the ice–liquid interface is crucial as it may cause lysis of living cells as well as water fluxes and embolism in sap conduits, which impacts whole tree–water relations. We investigated water fluxes induced by ice formation during freeze–thaw cycles in Juglans regia L. stems using four non-invasive and complementary approaches: a microdendrometer, magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray microtomography, and ultrasonic acoustic emissions analysis. When the temperature dropped, ice nucleation occurred, probably in the cambium or pith areas, inducing high water potential gradients within the stem. The water was therefore redistributed within the stem toward the ice front. We could thus observe dehydration of the bark’s living cells leading to drastic shrinkage of this tissue, as well as high tension within wood conduits reaching the cavitation threshold in sap vessels. Ultrasonic emissions, which were strictly emitted only during freezing, indicated cavitation events (i.e. bubble formation) following ice formation in the xylem sap. However, embolism formation (i.e. bubble expansion) in stems was observed only on thawing via X-ray microtomography for the first time on the same sample. Ultrasonic emissions were detected during freezing and were not directly related to embolism formation. These results provide new insights into the complex process and dynamics of water movements and ice formation during freeze–thaw cycles in tree stems. PMID:26585223

  5. Present-day Exposures of Water Ice in the Northern Mid-latitudes of Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Allen, Carlton C.; Kanner, Lisa C.

    2007-01-01

    Water ice is exposed in the martian north polar cap, but is rarely exposed beyond the cap boundary. Orbital gamma ray spectrometry data strongly imply the presence of water ice within meters of the surface at latitudes north of approximately 60deg. We have examined mid-latitude areas of the northern plains displaying residual ice-rich layers, and report evidence of present-day surface exposures of water ice. These exposures, if confirmed, could con-strain the latitudinal and temporal stability of surface ice on Mars.

  6. Surface water mass composition changes captured by cores of Arctic land-fast sea ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Smith, I. J.; Eicken, H.; Mahoney, A. R.; Van Hale, R.; Gough, A. J.; Fukamachi, Y.; Jones, J.

    2016-04-01

    In the Arctic, land-fast sea ice growth can be influenced by fresher water from rivers and residual summer melt. This paper examines a method to reconstruct changes in water masses using oxygen isotope measurements of sea ice cores. To determine changes in sea water isotope composition over the course of the ice growth period, the output of a sea ice thermodynamic model (driven with reanalysis data, observations of snow depth, and freeze-up dates) is used along with sea ice oxygen isotope measurements and an isotopic fractionation model. Direct measurements of sea ice growth rates are used to validate the output of the sea ice growth model. It is shown that for sea ice formed during the 2011/2012 ice growth season at Barrow, Alaska, large changes in isotopic composition of the ocean waters were captured by the sea ice isotopic composition. Salinity anomalies in the ocean were also tracked by moored instruments. These data indicate episodic advection of meteoric water, having both lower salinity and lower oxygen isotopic composition, during the winter sea ice growth season. Such advection of meteoric water during winter is surprising, as no surface meltwater and no local river discharge should be occurring at this time of year in that area. How accurately changes in water masses as indicated by oxygen isotope composition can be reconstructed using oxygen isotope analysis of sea ice cores is addressed, along with methods/strategies that could be used to further optimize the results. The method described will be useful for winter detection of meteoric water presence in Arctic fast ice regions, which is important for climate studies in a rapidly changing Arctic. Land-fast sea ice effective fractionation coefficients were derived, with a range of +1.82‰ to +2.52‰. Those derived effective fractionation coefficients will be useful for future water mass component proportion calculations. In particular, the equations given can be used to inform choices made when

  7. The Contribution of Water Ice Clouds to the Water Cycle in the North Polar Region of Mars: Preliminary Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bass, D. S.; Tamppari, L. K.

    2000-01-01

    While it has long been known that Mars' north residual polar cap and the Martian regolith are significant sources of atmospheric water vapor, the amount of water vapor observed in the northern spring season by the Viking Mars Atmospheric Water Detector instrument (MAWD) cannot be attributed to cap and regolith sources alone. Kahn suggested that ice hazes may be the mechanism by which additional water is supplied to the Martian atmosphere. Additionally, a significant decrease in atmospheric water vapor was observed in the late northern summer that could not be correlated with the return of the cold seasonal C02 ice. While the detection of water ice clouds on Mars indicate that water exists in Mars' atmosphere in several different phases, the extent to which water ice clouds play a role in moving water through the Martian atmosphere remains uncertain. Work by Bass et. al. suggested that the time dependence of water ice cap seasonal variability and the increase in atmospheric water vapor depended on the polar cap center reaching 200K, the night time saturation temperature. Additionally, they demonstrated that a decrease in atmospheric water vapor may be attributed to deposition of water ice onto the surface of the polar cap; temperatures were still too warm at this time in the summer for the deposition of carbon dioxide. However, whether water ice clouds contribute significantly to this variability is unknown. Additional information is contained in original extended abstract.

  8. Rheology of water ices V and VI

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durham, W.B.; Stern, L.A.; Kirby, S.H.

    1996-01-01

    We have measured the mechanical strength (??) of pure water ices V and VI under steady state deformation conditions. Constant displacement rate compressional tests were conducted in a gas apparatus at confining pressures from 400 250 K. Ices V and VI are thus Theologically distinct but by coincidence have approximately the same strength under the conditions chosen for these experiments. To avoid misidentification, these tests are therefore accompanied by careful observations of the occurrences and characteristics of phase changes. One sample each of ice V and VI was quenched at pressure to metastably retain the high-pressure phase and the acquired deformation microstructures; X ray diffraction analysis of these samples confirmed the phase identification. Surface replicas of the deformed and quenched samples suggest that ice V probably deforms largely by dislocation creep, while ice VI deforms by a more complicated process involving substantial grain size reduction through recrystallization.

  9. Turbulent properties under sloping Ice-wall in polar water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mondal, Mainak; Gayen, Bishakhdatta; Griffiths, Ross W.; Kerr, Ross C.

    2017-11-01

    Ice-shelves around West Antarctic basins are the most vulnerable to melting in the presence of warmer continental shelf water. A large extent of slope exists under these ice-shelves, where turbulent transport of salt and heat into the ice wall drives a convective melt-water plume against it. Large scale ice-ocean models neglect the effect of convection which can lead to a wrong estimation of melt rate. We perform direct numerical simulations under sloping ice-shelves with realistic ambient conditions. We estimated the melt rates, boundary layer thicknesses and entrainment coefficients as a function of slope angle. The numerical results are further supported by theoretical predictions. Over the range of slope angles, different mechanisms are active for sustaining turbulence. For near vertical case, buoyancy production is the primary source of turbulent kinetic energy whereas for shallower angles turbulence is produced by velocity shear in the meltwater plume. Australian Research Council.

  10. A numerical model for water and heat transport in freezing soils with nonequilibrium ice-water interfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peng, Zhenyang; Tian, Fuqiang; Wu, Jingwei; Huang, Jiesheng; Hu, Hongchang; Darnault, Christophe J. G.

    2016-09-01

    A one-dimensional numerical model of heat and water transport in freezing soils is developed by assuming that ice-water interfaces are not necessarily in equilibrium. The Clapeyron equation, which is derived from a static ice-water interface using the thermal equilibrium theory, cannot be readily applied to a dynamic system, such as freezing soils. Therefore, we handled the redistribution of liquid water with the Richard's equation. In this application, the sink term is replaced by the freezing rate of pore water, which is proportional to the extent of supercooling and available water content for freezing by a coefficient, β. Three short-term laboratory column simulations show reasonable agreement with observations, with standard error of simulation on water content ranging between 0.007 and 0.011 cm3 cm-3, showing improved accuracy over other models that assume equilibrium ice-water interfaces. Simulation results suggest that when the freezing front is fixed at a specific depth, deviation of the ice-water interface from equilibrium, at this location, will increase with time. However, this deviation tends to weaken when the freezing front slowly penetrates to a greater depth, accompanied with thinner soils of significant deviation. The coefficient, β, plays an important role in the simulation of heat and water transport. A smaller β results in a larger deviation in the ice-water interface from equilibrium, and backward estimation of the freezing front. It also leads to an underestimation of water content in soils that were previously frozen by a rapid freezing rate, and an overestimation of water content in the rest of the soils.

  11. Compression Freezing Kinetics of Water to Ice VII

    DOE PAGES

    Gleason, A. E.; Bolme, C. A.; Galtier, E.; ...

    2017-07-11

    Time-resolved x-ray diffraction (XRD) of compressed liquid water shows transformation to ice VII in 6 nsec, revealing crystallization rather than amorphous solidification during compression freezing. Application of classical nucleation theory indicates heterogeneous nucleation and one-dimensional (e.g., needlelike) growth. In conclusion, these first XRD data demonstrate rapid growth kinetics of ice VII with implications for fundamental physics of diffusion-mediated crystallization and thermodynamic modeling of collision or impact events on ice-rich planetary bodies.

  12. Compression Freezing Kinetics of Water to Ice VII

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gleason, A. E.; Bolme, C. A.; Galtier, E.

    Time-resolved x-ray diffraction (XRD) of compressed liquid water shows transformation to ice VII in 6 nsec, revealing crystallization rather than amorphous solidification during compression freezing. Application of classical nucleation theory indicates heterogeneous nucleation and one-dimensional (e.g., needlelike) growth. In conclusion, these first XRD data demonstrate rapid growth kinetics of ice VII with implications for fundamental physics of diffusion-mediated crystallization and thermodynamic modeling of collision or impact events on ice-rich planetary bodies.

  13. A simulation study of homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled salty water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Soria, Guiomar D.; Espinosa, Jorge R.; Ramirez, Jorge; Valeriani, Chantal; Vega, Carlos; Sanz, Eduardo

    2018-06-01

    We use computer simulations to investigate the effect of salt on homogeneous ice nucleation. The melting point of the employed solution model was obtained both by direct coexistence simulations and by thermodynamic integration from previous calculations of the water chemical potential. Using a seeding approach, in which we simulate ice seeds embedded in a supercooled aqueous solution, we compute the nucleation rate as a function of temperature for a 1.85 NaCl mol per water kilogram solution at 1 bar. To improve the accuracy and reliability of our calculations, we combine seeding with the direct computation of the ice-solution interfacial free energy at coexistence using the Mold Integration method. We compare the results with previous simulation work on pure water to understand the effect caused by the solute. The model captures the experimental trend that the nucleation rate at a given supercooling decreases when adding salt. Despite the fact that the thermodynamic driving force for ice nucleation is higher for salty water for a given supercooling, the nucleation rate slows down with salt due to a significant increase of the ice-fluid interfacial free energy. The salty water model predicts an ice nucleation rate that is in good agreement with experimental measurements, bringing confidence in the predictive ability of the model. We expect that the combination of state-of-the-art simulation methods here employed to study ice nucleation from solution will be of much use in forthcoming numerical investigations of crystallization in mixtures.

  14. A simulation study of homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled salty water.

    PubMed

    Soria, Guiomar D; Espinosa, Jorge R; Ramirez, Jorge; Valeriani, Chantal; Vega, Carlos; Sanz, Eduardo

    2018-06-14

    We use computer simulations to investigate the effect of salt on homogeneous ice nucleation. The melting point of the employed solution model was obtained both by direct coexistence simulations and by thermodynamic integration from previous calculations of the water chemical potential. Using a seeding approach, in which we simulate ice seeds embedded in a supercooled aqueous solution, we compute the nucleation rate as a function of temperature for a 1.85 NaCl mol per water kilogram solution at 1 bar. To improve the accuracy and reliability of our calculations, we combine seeding with the direct computation of the ice-solution interfacial free energy at coexistence using the Mold Integration method. We compare the results with previous simulation work on pure water to understand the effect caused by the solute. The model captures the experimental trend that the nucleation rate at a given supercooling decreases when adding salt. Despite the fact that the thermodynamic driving force for ice nucleation is higher for salty water for a given supercooling, the nucleation rate slows down with salt due to a significant increase of the ice-fluid interfacial free energy. The salty water model predicts an ice nucleation rate that is in good agreement with experimental measurements, bringing confidence in the predictive ability of the model. We expect that the combination of state-of-the-art simulation methods here employed to study ice nucleation from solution will be of much use in forthcoming numerical investigations of crystallization in mixtures.

  15. Detection of cryogenic water ice contaminants and the IR AI&T environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lynch, David K.; Russell, Ray W.

    2000-12-01

    Several remote sensing/infrared space surveillance programs in the midst of assembly, integration and test have recently experienced delays when water vapor was deposited as ice on cold surfaces in a sensor under test or calibration. When these surfaces were at critical locations, the sensitivity or response of the sensor decreased significantly because the ice absorbed the incoming signal. The source of water vapor could be from a chamber leak or outgassing from the sensor system or the vacuum chamber itself. In order to quantify the effects of ice deposits on signals in various spectral bands, published optical constants for amorphous and crystalline water ice have been used to calculate the transmission of water ice films as a function of wavelength from 1 to 20 microns. The results are presented in two ways: spectra of the physical thickness of a layer of ice whose absorption optical depth is unity, and transmission spectra for several characteristic layer thicknesses. These tools can be used in estimating the amount of ice - and by inference water vapor - present in the system. Related calculations can also be used to assess the probability that a given hardware setup or resulting data set is showing signs of degradation of response due to ice absorption, and the implications for those trying to interpret the results.

  16. Bacteria beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet.

    PubMed

    Lanoil, Brian; Skidmore, Mark; Priscu, John C; Han, Sukkyun; Foo, Wilson; Vogel, Stefan W; Tulaczyk, Slawek; Engelhardt, Hermann

    2009-03-01

    Subglacial environments, particularly those that lie beneath polar ice sheets, are beginning to be recognized as an important part of Earth's biosphere. However, except for indirect indications of microbial assemblages in subglacial Lake Vostok, Antarctica, no sub-ice sheet environments have been shown to support microbial ecosystems. Here we report 16S rRNA gene and isolate diversity in sediments collected from beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, West Antarctic Ice Sheet and stored for 15 months at 4 degrees C. This is the first report of microbes in samples from the sediment environment beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The cells were abundant ( approximately 10(7) cells g(-1)) but displayed low diversity (only five phylotypes), likely as a result of enrichment during storage. Isolates were cold tolerant and the 16S rRNA gene diversity was a simplified version of that found in subglacial alpine and Arctic sediments and water. Although in situ cell abundance and the extent of wet sediments beneath the Antarctic ice sheet can only be roughly extrapolated on the basis of this sample, it is clear that the subglacial ecosystem contains a significant and previously unrecognized pool of microbial cells and associated organic carbon that could potentially have significant implications for global geochemical processes.

  17. Identification of water ice on the Centaur 1997 CU26.

    PubMed

    Brown, R H; Cruikshank, D P; Pendleton, Y; Veeder, G J

    1998-05-29

    Spectra of the Centaur 1997 CU26 were obtained at the Keck Observatory on 27 October 1997 (universal time). The data show strong absorptions at 1.52 and 2.03 micrometers attributable to water ice on the surface of 1997 CU26. The reflectance spectrum of 1997 CU26 is matched by the spectrum of a mixture of low-temperature, particulate water ice and spectrally featureless but otherwise red-colored material. Water ice dominates the spectrum of 1997 CU26, whereas methane or methane-like hydrocarbons apparently dominate the spectrum of the Kuiper belt object 1993 SC, perhaps indicating different origins, thermal histories, or both for these two objects.

  18. Trapping in water - an important prerequisite for complex reactivity in astrophysical ices: the case of acetone (CH3)2C = O and ammonia NH3

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fresneau, Aurélien; Danger, Grégoire; Rimola, Albert; Theule, Patrice; Duvernay, Fabrice; Chiavassa, Thierry

    2014-10-01

    Water is the most abundant compound in interstellar and cometary ices. Laboratory experiments on ice analogues have shown that water has a great influence on the chemical activity of these ices. In this study, we investigated the reactivity of acetone-ammonia ices, showing that water is an essential component in chemical reactions with high activation energies. In a water-free binary ice, acetone and ammonia do not react due to high activation energy, as the reactants desorb before reacting (at 120 and 140 K, respectively). By contrast, our study shows that under experimental conditions of ˜150 K, this reaction does occur in the presence of water. Here, water traps reactants in the solid phase above their desorption temperatures, allowing them to gather thermal energy as the reaction proceeds. Using infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry associated with isotopic labelling, as well as quantum chemical calculations, 2-aminopropan-2-ol (2HN-C(CH3)2-OH) was identified as the acetone-ammonia reaction product. The formation of this product may represent the first step towards formation of 2-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) in the Strecker synthesis. The activation energy for the formation of 2-aminopropan-2-ol was measured to be 42 ± 3 kJ mol-1, while its desorption energy equalled 61.3 ± 0.1 kJ mol-1. Our work demonstrates that astrophysical water, rather than being a non-thermally reactive species, is crucial for the evolution of complex chemistry occurring in the Universe.

  19. Detection of Sea Ice and Open Water from RADARSAT-2 Images for Data Assimilation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Komarov, A.; Buehner, M.

    2016-12-01

    Automated detection of sea ice and open water from SAR data is very important for further assimilation into coupled ocean-sea ice-atmosphere numerical models, such as the Regional Ice-Ocean Prediction System being implemented at the Environment and Climate Change Canada. Conventional classification approaches based on various learning techniques are found to be limited by the fact that they typically do not indicate the level of confidence for ice and water retrievals. Meanwhile, only ice/water retrievals with a very high level of confidence are allowed to be assimilated into the sea ice model to avoid propagating and magnifying errors into the numerical prediction system. In this study we developed a new technique for ice and water detection from dual-polarization RADARSAT-2 HH-HV images which provides the probability of ice/water at a given location. We collected many hundreds of thousands of SAR signatures over various sea ice types (i.e. new, grey, first-year, and multi-year ice) and open water from all available RADARSAT-2 images and the corresponding Canadian Ice Service Image Analysis products over the period from November 2010 to May 2016. Our analysis of the dataset revealed that ice/water separation can be effectively performed in the space of SAR-based variables independent of the incidence angle and noise floor (such as texture measures) and auxiliary Global Environmental Multiscale Model parameters (such as surface wind speed). Choice of the parameters will be specifically discussed in the presentation. An ice probability empirical model as a function of the selected predictors was built in a form of logistic regression, based on the training dataset from 2012 to 2016. The developed ice probability model showed very good performance on the independent testing subset (year 2011). With the ice/water probability threshold of 0.95 reflecting a very high level of confidence, 79% of the testing ice and water samples were classified with the accuracy of 99

  20. Influence of antifreeze proteins on the ice/water interface.

    PubMed

    Todde, Guido; Hovmöller, Sven; Laaksonen, Aatto

    2015-02-26

    Antifreeze proteins (AFP) are responsible for the survival of several species, ranging from bacteria to fish, that encounter subzero temperatures in their living environment. AFPs have been divided into two main families, moderately and hyperactive, depending on their thermal hysteresis activity. We have studied one protein from both families, the AFP from the snow flea (sfAFP) and from the winter flounder (wfAFP), which belong to the hyperactive and moderately active family, respectively. On the basis of molecular dynamics simulations, we have estimated the thickness of the water/ice interface for systems both with and without the AFPs attached onto the ice surface. The calculation of the diffusion profiles along the simulation box allowed us to measure the interface width for different ice planes. The obtained widths clearly show a different influence of the two AFPs on the ice/water interface. The different impact of the AFPs here studied on the interface thickness can be related to two AFPs properties: the protein hydrophobic surface and the number of hydrogen bonds that the two AFPs faces form with water molecules.

  1. The Distribution of Basal Water Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet from Radio-Echo Sounding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jordan, T.; Williams, C.; Schroeder, D. M.; Martos, Y. M.; Cooper, M.; Siegert, M. J.; Paden, J. D.; Huybrechts, P.; Bamber, J. L.

    2017-12-01

    There is widespread, but often indirect, evidence that a significant fraction of the Greenland Ice Sheet is thawed at the bed. This includes major outlet glaciers and around the NorthGRIP ice-core in the interior. However, the ice-sheet-wide distribution of basal water is poorly constrained by existing observations, and the spatial relationship between basal water and other ice-sheet and subglacial properties is therefore largely unexplored. In principle, airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) surveys provide the necessary information and spatial coverage to infer the presence of basal water at the ice-sheet scale. However, due to uncertainty and spatial variation in radar signal attenuation, the commonly used water diagnostic, bed-echo reflectivity, is highly ambiguous and prone to spatial bias. Here we introduce a new RES diagnostic for the presence of basal water which incorporates both sharp step-transitions and rapid fluctuations in bed-echo reflectivity. This has the advantage of being (near) independent of attenuation model, and enables a decade of recent Operation Ice Bride RES survey data to be combined in a single map for basal water. The ice-sheet-wide water predictions are compared with: bed topography and drainage network structure, existing knowledge of the thermal state and geothermal heat flux, and ice velocity. In addition to the fast flowing ice-sheet margins, we also demonstrate widespread water routing and storage in parts of the slow-flowing northern interior. Notably, this includes a quasi-linear `corridor' of basal water, extending from NorthGRIP to Petermann glacier, which spatially correlates with a region of locally high (magnetic-derived) geothermal heat flux. The predicted water distribution places a new constraint upon the basal thermal state of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and could be used as an input for ice-sheet model simulations.

  2. Water Ice Clouds over the Northern Plains

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2002-01-01

    (Released 14 May 2002) The Science This image, centered near 48.5 N and 240.5 W, displays splotchy water ice clouds that obscure the northern lowland plains in the region where the Viking 2 spacecraft landed. This image is far enough north to catch the edge of the north polar hood that develops during the northern winter. This is a cap of water and carbon dioxide ice clouds that form over the Martian north pole. As Mars progresses into northern spring, the persistent north polar hood ice clouds will dissipate and the surface viewing conditions will improve greatly. As the season develops, an equatorial belt of water ice clouds will form. This belt of water ice clouds is as characteristic of the Martian climate as the southern hemisphere summer dust storm season. Seasons on Mars have a dramatic effect on the state of the dynamic Martian atmosphere. The Story Muted in an almost air-brushed manner, this image doesn't have the crispness that most THEMIS images have. That's because clouds were rising over the surface of the red planet on the day this picture was taken. Finding clouds on Mars might remind us of conditions here on Earth, but these Martian clouds are made of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide -- in other words, clouds of ice and 'dry ice.' Strange as that may sound, the clouds seen here form on a pretty regular basis at the north Martian pole during its winter season. As springtime comes to the northern hemisphere of Mars (and fall comes to the southern), these clouds will slowly disappear, and a nice belt of water ice clouds will form around the equator. So, if you were a THEMIS camera aimer, that might tell you when your best viewing conditions for different areas on Mars would be. As interesting as clear pictures of Martian landforms are, however, you wouldn't want to bypass the weather altogether. Pictures showing seasonal shifts are great for scientists to study, because they reveal a lot about the patterns of the Martian climate and the

  3. Fungal spores as potential ice nuclei in fog/cloud water and snow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bauer, Heidi; Goncalves, Fabio L. T.; Schueller, Elisabeth; Puxbaum, Hans

    2010-05-01

    INTRODUCTION: In discussions about climate change and precipitation frequency biological ice nucleation has become an issue. While bacterial ice nucleation (IN) is already well characterized and even utilized in industrial processes such as the production of artificial snow or to improve freezing processes in food industry, less is known about the IN potential of fungal spores which are also ubiquitous in the atmosphere. A recent study performed at a mountain top in the Rocky Mountains suggests that fungal spores and/or pollen might play a role in increased IN abundance during periods of cloud cover (Bowers et al. 2009). In the present work concentrations of fungal spores in fog/cloud water and snow were determined. EXPERIMENTAL: Fog samples were taken with an active fog sampler in 2008 in a traffic dominated area and in a national park in São Paulo, Brazil. The number concentrations of fungal spores were determined by microscopic by direct enumeration by epifluorescence microscopy after staining with SYBR Gold nucleic acid gel stain (Bauer et al. 2008). RESULTS: In the fog water collected in the polluted area at a junction of two highly frequented highways around 22,000 fungal spores mL-1 were counted. Fog in the national park contained 35,000 spores mL-1. These results were compared with cloud water and snow samples from Mt. Rax, situated at the eastern rim of the Austrian Alps. Clouds contained on average 5,900 fungal spores mL-1 cloud water (1,300 - 11,000) or 2,200 spores m-3 (304 - 5,000). In freshly fallen snow spore concentrations were lower than in cloud water, around 1,000 fungal spores mL-1 were counted (Bauer et al. 2002). In both sets of samples representatives of the ice nucleating genus Fusarium could be observed. REFERENCES: Bauer, H., Kasper-Giebl, A., Löflund, M., Giebl, H., Hitzenberger, R., Zibuschka, F., Puxbaum, H. (2002). The contribution of bacteria and fungal spores to the organic carbon content of cloud water, precipitation and aerosols

  4. Polyamorphism in Water: Amorphous Ices and their Glassy States

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Amann-Winkel, K.; Boehmer, R.; Fujara, F.; Gainaru, C.; Geil, B.; Loerting, T.

    2015-12-01

    Water is ubiquitous and of general importance for our environment. But it is also known as the most anomalous liquid. The fundamental origin of the numerous anomalies of water is still under debate. An understanding of these anomalous properties of water is closely linked to an understanding of the phase diagram of the metastable non-crystalline states of ice. The process of pressure induced amorphization of ice was first observed by Mishima et al. [1]. The authors pressurized hexagonal ice at 77 K up to a pressure of 1.6 GPa to form high density amorphous ice (HDA). So far three distinct structural states of amorphous water are known [2], they are called low- (LDA), high- (HDA) and very high density amorphous ice (VHDA). Since the discovery of multiple distinct amorphous states it is controversy discussed whether this phenomenon of polyamorphism at high pressures is connected to the occurrence of more than one supercooled liquid phase [3]. Alternatively, amorphous ices have been suggested to be of nanocrystalline nature, unrelated to liquids. Indeed inelastic X-ray scattering measurements indicate sharp crystal-like phonons in the amorphous ices [4]. In case of LDA the connection to the low-density liquid (LDL) was inferred from several experiments including the observation of a calorimetric glass-to-liquid transition at 136 K and ambient pressure [5]. Recently also the glass transition in HDA was observed at 116 K at ambient pressure [6] and at 140 K at elevated pressure of 1 GPa [7], using calorimetric measurements as well as dielectric spectroscopy. We discuss here the general importance of amorphous ices and their liquid counterparts and present calorimetric and dielectric measurements on LDA and HDA. The good agreement between dielectric and calorimetric results convey for a clearer picture of water's vitrification phenomenon. [1] O. Mishima, L. D. Calvert, and E. Whalley, Nature 314, 76, 1985 [2] D.T. Bowron, J. L. Finney, A. Hallbrucker, et al., J. Chem

  5. Sea ice and surface water circulation, Alaskan continental shelf

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wright, F. F. (Principal Investigator); Sharma, G. D.; Burns, J. J.

    1973-01-01

    The author has identified the following significant results. Sediments contributed by the Copper River in the Gulf of Alaska are carried westward along the shore as a distinct plume. Oceanic water relatively poor in suspended material appears to intrude near Montague Island, and turbid water between Middleton Island and Kayak Island is the result of Ekman between transport. An anticlockwise surface water circulation is observed in this region. Ground truth data indicate striking similarity with ERTS-1 imagery obtained on October 12, 1972. Observations of ERTS-1 imagery reveal that various characteristics and distribution of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean can be easily studied. Formation of different types of sea ice and their movement is quite discrenible. Sea ice moves parallel to the cost in near shore areas and to the northerly direction away from the coast.

  6. Water and ice on Mars: Evidence from Valles Marineris

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lucchitta, B. K.

    1987-01-01

    An important contribution to the volatile history of Mars comes from a study of Valles Marineris, where stereoimages and a 3-D view of the upper Martian crust permit unusual insights. The evidence that ground water and ice existed until relatively recently or still exist in the equatorial area comes from observations of landslides, wall rock, and dark volcanic vents. Valles Marineris landslides are different in efficiency from large catastrophic landslides on Earth. One explanation for the difference might be that the Martian slides are lubricated by water. A comparison of landslide speeds also suggests that the Martian slides contain water. That Valles Marineris wall rock contained water or ice is further suggested by its difference from the interior layered deposits. Faults and fault zones in Valles Marineris also shed light on the problem of water content in the walls. Because the main evidence for water and ice in the wall rock comes from slides, their time of emplacement is important. The slides in Valles Marineris date from the time of late eruptions of the Tharsis volcanoes and thus were emplaced after the major activity of Martian outflow channels.

  7. Ice versus liquid water saturation in simulations of the indian summer monsoon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glazer, Russell H.; Misra, Vasubandhu

    2018-02-01

    At the same temperature, below 0 °C, the saturation vapor pressure (SVP) over ice is slightly less than the SVP over liquid water. Numerical models use the Clausius-Clapeyron relation to calculate the SVP and relative humidity, but there is not a consistent method for the treatment of saturation above the freezing level where ice and mixed-phase clouds may be present. In the context of current challenges presented by cloud microphysics in climate models, we argue that a better understanding of the impact that this treatment has on saturation-related processes like cloud formation and precipitation, is needed. This study explores the importance of the SVP calculation through model simulations of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) using the regional spectral model (RSM) at 15 km grid spacing. A combination of seasonal and multiyear simulations is conducted with two saturation parameterizations. In one, the SVP over liquid water is prescribed through the entire atmospheric column (woIce), and in another the SVP over ice is used above the freezing level (wIce). When SVP over ice is prescribed, a thermodynamic drying of the middle and upper troposphere above the freezing level occurs due to increased condensation. In the wIce runs, the model responds to the slight decrease in the saturation condition by increasing, relative to the SVP over liquid water only run, grid-scale condensation of water. Increased grid-scale mean seasonal precipitation is noted across the ISM region in the simulation with SVP over ice prescribed. Modification of the middle and upper troposphere moisture results in a decrease in mean seasonal mid-level cloud amount and an increase in high cloud amount when SVP over ice is prescribed. Multiyear simulations strongly corroborate the qualitative results found in the seasonal simulations regarding the impact of ice versus liquid water SVP on the ISM's mean precipitation and moisture field. The mean seasonal rainfall difference over All India between wIce

  8. A balanced water layer concept for subglacial hydrology in large scale ice sheet models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goeller, S.; Thoma, M.; Grosfeld, K.; Miller, H.

    2012-12-01

    There is currently no doubt about the existence of a wide-spread hydrological network under the Antarctic ice sheet, which lubricates the ice base and thus leads to increased ice velocities. Consequently, ice models should incorporate basal hydrology to obtain meaningful results for future ice dynamics and their contribution to global sea level rise. Here, we introduce the balanced water layer concept, covering two prominent subglacial hydrological features for ice sheet modeling on a continental scale: the evolution of subglacial lakes and balance water fluxes. We couple it to the thermomechanical ice-flow model RIMBAY and apply it to a synthetic model domain inspired by the Gamburtsev Mountains, Antarctica. In our experiments we demonstrate the dynamic generation of subglacial lakes and their impact on the velocity field of the overlaying ice sheet, resulting in a negative ice mass balance. Furthermore, we introduce an elementary parametrization of the water flux-basal sliding coupling and reveal the predominance of the ice loss through the resulting ice streams against the stabilizing influence of less hydrologically active areas. We point out, that established balance flux schemes quantify these effects only partially as their ability to store subglacial water is lacking.

  9. Rheology of water and ammonia-water ices

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goldsby, D. L.; Kohlstedt, D. L.; Durham, W. B.

    1993-01-01

    Creep experiments on fine-grained water and ammonia-water ices have been performed at one atmosphere and high confining pressure in order to develop constitutive relationships necessary to model tectonic processes and interpret surface features of icy moons of the outer solar system. The present series of experiments explores the effects of temperature, strain rate, grain size, and melt fraction on creep strength. In general, creep strength decreases with increasing temperature, decreasing strain rate, and increasing melt fraction. A transition from dislocation creep to diffusion creep occurs at finer grain sizes, higher temperatures, and lower strain rates.

  10. Effects of ambient exposure, refrigeration, and icing on Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus abundances in oysters.

    PubMed

    Jones, J L; Lydon, K A; Kinsey, T P; Friedman, B; Curtis, M; Schuster, R; Bowers, J C

    2017-07-17

    Vibrio vulnificus (Vv) and V. parahaemolyticus (Vp) illnesses are typically acquired through the consumption of raw molluscan shellfish, particularly oysters. As Vibrio spp. are naturally-occurring bacteria, one means of mitigation of illness is achieved by limiting post-harvest growth. In this study, effects of ambient air storage, refrigeration, and icing of oysters on Vibrio spp. abundances were examined at two sites in Alabama (AL) [Dog River (DR) and Cedar Point (CP)] and one site in Delaware Bay, New Jersey (NJ). As the United States shellfish program recommendations include testing for total these organisms and gene targets, Vv and total (tlh) and pathogenic (tdh+ and trh+) Vp were enumerated from samples using MPN-real-time-PCR approaches. Mean Vv and Vp abundances in oysters from AL-DR were lowest in immediately iced samples (2.3 and -0.1 log MPN/g, respectively) and highest in the 5h ambient then refrigerated samples (3.4 and 0.5 log MPN/g, respectively). Similarly, in AL-CP Vv and Vp mean levels in oysters were lowest in immediately iced samples (3.6 and 1.2 log MPN/g, respectively) and highest in 5h ambient then refrigerated samples (5.1 and 3.2 log MPN/g, respectively). Mean levels of pathogenic Vp from AL sites were frequently below the limit of detection (<0.3 MPN/g). In NJ, Vv and Vp mean abundances in oysters were highest in samples which were held for 7h in the shade (5.3 and 4.8 log MPN/g, respectively). Mean pathogenic Vp levels in oysters at initial harvest were also highest in oysters 7h in the shade (2.1 and 2.2 log MPN/g for tdh+ and trh+ Vp). Regardless of sampling location, Vibrio spp. levels were generally significantly (p<0.05) greater in oysters exposed to 5h of air storage compared to the initially harvested samples. In addition, the data demonstrated that the use of layered ice resulted in lower Vibrio spp. levels in oysters, compared to those that were refrigerated post-harvest. These results suggest vibriosis risk can be mitigated

  11. Wind-driven Sea-Ice Changes Intensify Subsurface Warm Water Intrusion into the West Antarctic Land Ice Front

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, X.; Gille, S. T.; shang-Ping, X.; Xie, S. P.; Holland, D. M.; Holland, M. M.

    2016-12-01

    The climate change observed around Antarctica in recent decades is characterized by distinct zonally asymmetric patterns, with the strongest changes over West Antarctica. These changes are marked by strong land ice melting and sea ice redistribution around West Antarctica. This is associated with temperature and circulation anomalies in the ocean and atmosphere around the same area. In this study, we comprehensively examine the coherency between these changes using a combination of observations and numerical simulations. Results show that the atmospheric circulation changes distinctly drive the changes in ocean circulation and sea ice distribution. In addition, the atmospheric circulation induced sea ice changes play an important role in lifting the subsurface ocean temperature and salinity around the West Antarctica. During recent decades, the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) has deepened, especially in austral autumn and winter. This deepened ASL has intensified the offshore wind near the coastal regions of the Ross Sea. Driven by these atmospheric changes, more sea ice has formed near West Antarctica in winter. In contrast, more sea ice melts during the summer. This strengthened sea ice seasonality has been observed and successfully reproduced in the model simulation. The wind-driven sea ice changes causes a surface freshening over the Ross and Amundsen Seas, with a subsurface salinity increase over the Ross Sea. The additional fresh/salt water fluxes thus further change the vertical distribution of salinity and strengthen the stratification in the Ross and Amundsen Seas. As a result of the above ice-ocean process, the mixed-layer depth around the Ross and Amundsen Seas shallows. By weakening the vertical heat transport near the surface layer, and inducing an upward movement of the circumpolar deep water (CDW), this process freshened and cooled the surface layer, while the salinity and temperature in the sub-surface ocean are increased, extending from 150 meters to >700

  12. The Ice Line in Pre-Solar Protoplanetary Disks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davis, Sanford S.

    2012-01-01

    Protoplanetary disks contain abundant quantities of water molecules in both gas and solid phases. The distribution of these two phases in an evolving protoplanetary disk will have important consequences regarding water sequestration in planetary embryos. The boundary between gaseous and solid water is the "ice line" or "snow line" A simplified model that captures the complicated two-branched structure of the ice line is developed and compared with recent investigations. The effect of an evolving Sun is also included for the first time. This latter parameter could have important consequences regarding the thermodynamic state and the surface reaction environment for the time-dependent chemical reactions occurring during the 1- to 10-million-year lifetime of the pre-solar disk.

  13. Ice-nucleating bacteria control the order and dynamics of interfacial water

    DOE PAGES

    Pandey, Ravindra; Usui, Kota; Livingstone, Ruth A.; ...

    2016-04-22

    Ice-nucleating organisms play important roles in the environment. With their ability to induce ice formation at temperatures just below the ice melting point, bacteria such as Pseudomonas syringae attack plants through frost damage using specialized ice-nucleating proteins. Besides the impact on agriculture and microbial ecology, airborne P. syringae can affect atmospheric glaciation processes, with consequences for cloud evolution, precipitation, and climate. Biogenic ice nucleation is also relevant for artificial snow production and for biomimetic materials for controlled interfacial freezing. We use interface-specific sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to show that hydrogen bonding at the water-bacteria contact imposes structural ordering onmore » the adjacent water network. Experimental SFG data and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that ice active sites within P. syringae feature unique hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterns to enhance ice nucleation. Finally, the freezing transition is further facilitated by the highly effective removal of latent heat from the nucleation site, as apparent from time-resolved SFG spectroscopy.« less

  14. Ice-nucleating bacteria control the order and dynamics of interfacial water

    PubMed Central

    Pandey, Ravindra; Usui, Kota; Livingstone, Ruth A.; Fischer, Sean A.; Pfaendtner, Jim; Backus, Ellen H. G.; Nagata, Yuki; Fröhlich-Nowoisky, Janine; Schmüser, Lars; Mauri, Sergio; Scheel, Jan F.; Knopf, Daniel A.; Pöschl, Ulrich; Bonn, Mischa; Weidner, Tobias

    2016-01-01

    Ice-nucleating organisms play important roles in the environment. With their ability to induce ice formation at temperatures just below the ice melting point, bacteria such as Pseudomonas syringae attack plants through frost damage using specialized ice-nucleating proteins. Besides the impact on agriculture and microbial ecology, airborne P. syringae can affect atmospheric glaciation processes, with consequences for cloud evolution, precipitation, and climate. Biogenic ice nucleation is also relevant for artificial snow production and for biomimetic materials for controlled interfacial freezing. We use interface-specific sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy to show that hydrogen bonding at the water-bacteria contact imposes structural ordering on the adjacent water network. Experimental SFG data and molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that ice-active sites within P. syringae feature unique hydrophilic-hydrophobic patterns to enhance ice nucleation. The freezing transition is further facilitated by the highly effective removal of latent heat from the nucleation site, as apparent from time-resolved SFG spectroscopy. PMID:27152346

  15. A Model for the Formation and Melting of Ice on Surface Waters.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Bruin, H. A. R.; Wessels, H. R. A.

    1988-02-01

    Ice covers have an important influence on the hydrology of surface waters. The growth of ice layer on stationary waters, such as lakes or canals, depends primarily on meteorological parameters like temperature and humidity of the air, windspeed and radiation balance. The more complicated ice formation in rapidly flowing rivers is not considered in this study. A model is described that simulates ice growth and melting utilizing observed or forecast weather data. The model includes situations with a snow cover. Special attention is given to the optimal estimation of the net radiation and to the role of the stability of the near-surface air. Since a major practical application in the Netherlands is the use of frozen waters for recreation skating, the model is extended to include artificial ice tracks.

  16. Role of Salt, Pressure, and Water Activity on Homogeneous Ice Nucleation.

    PubMed

    Espinosa, Jorge R; Soria, Guiomar D; Ramirez, Jorge; Valeriani, Chantal; Vega, Carlos; Sanz, Eduardo

    2017-09-21

    Pure water can be substantially supercooled below the melting temperature without transforming into ice. The achievable supercooling can be enhanced by adding solutes or by applying hydrostatic pressure. Avoiding ice formation is of great importance in the cryopreservation of food or biological samples. In this Letter, we investigate the similarity between the effects of pressure and salt on ice formation using a combination of state-of-the-art simulation techniques. We find that both hinder ice formation by increasing the energetic cost of creating the ice-fluid interface. Moreover, we examine the widely accepted proposal that the ice nucleation rate for different pressures and solute concentrations can be mapped through the activity of water [ Koop , L. ; Tsias , P. Nature , 2000 , 406 , 611 ]. We show that such a proposal is not consistent with the nucleation rates predicted in our simulations because it does not include all parameters affecting ice nucleation. Therefore, even though salt and pressure have a qualitatively similar effect on ice formation, they cannot be quantitatively mapped onto one another.

  17. Study of Cold Heat Energy Release Characteristics of Flowing Ice Water Slurry in a Pipe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Inaba, Hideo; Horibe, Akihiko; Ozaki, Koichi; Yokota, Maki

    This paper has dealt with melting heat transfer characteristics of ice water slurry in an inside tube of horizontal double tube heat exchanger in which a hot water circulated in an annular gap between the inside and outside tubes. Two kinds of heat exchangers were used; one is made of acrylic resin tube for flow visualization and the other is made of stainless steel tube for melting heat transfer measurement. The result of flow visualization revealed that ice particles flowed along the top of inside tube in the ranges of small ice packing factor and low ice water slurry velocity, while ice particles diffused into the whole of tube and flowed like a plug built up by ice particles for large ice packing factor and high velocity. Moreover, it was found that the flowing ice plug was separated into numbers of small ice clusters by melting phenomenon. Experiments of melting heat transfer were carried out under some parameters of ice packing factor, ice water slurry flow rate and hot water temperature. Consequently, the correlation equation of melting heat transfer was derived as a function of those experimental parameters.

  18. Antarctic ice discharge due to warm water intrusion into shelf cavities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Winkelmann, R.; Reese, R.; Albrecht, T.; Mengel, M.; Asay-Davis, X.

    2017-12-01

    Ocean-induced melting below ice shelves is the dominant driver for mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet at present. Observations show that many Antarctic ice shelves are thinning which reduces their buttressing potential and can lead to increased ice discharge from the glaciers upstream. Melt rates from Antarctic ice shelves are determined by the temperature and salinity of the ambient ocean. In many parts, ice shelves are shielded by clearly defined density fronts which keep relatively warm Northern water from entering the cavity underneath the ice shelves. Projections show that a redirection of coastal currents might allow these warmer waters to intrude into ice shelf cavities, for instance in the Weddell Sea, and thereby cause a strong increase in sub-shelf melt rates. Using the Potsdam Ice-shelf Cavity mOdel (PICO), we assess how such a change would influence the dynamic ice loss from Antarctica. PICO is implemented as part of the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) and mimics the vertical overturning circulation in ice-shelf cavities. The model is capable of capturing the wide range of melt rates currently observed for Antarctic ice shelves and reproduces the typical pattern of comparably high melting near the grounding line and lower melting or refreezing towards the calving front. Based on regional observations of ocean temperatures, we use PISM-PICO to estimate an upper limit for ice discharge resulting from the potential erosion of ocean fronts around Antarctica.

  19. Indirect contact freeze water desalination for an ice maker machine - CFD simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jayakody, Harith; Al-Dadah, Raya; Mahmoud, Saad

    2017-11-01

    To offer for potable water shortages, sea water desalination is a potential solution for the global rising demand for fresh water. The latent heat of fusion is about one-seventh the latent heat of vaporisation, thus indicating the benefit of lower energy consumption for the freeze desalination process. Limited literature is reported on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) on freeze desalination. Therefore, analysing and investigating thermodynamic processes are easily conducted by the powerful tool of CFD. A single unit of ice formation in an ice maker machine was modelled using ANSYS Fluent software three-dimensionally. Energy, species transport and solidification/melting modules were used in building the CFD model. Parametric analysis was conducted using the established CFD model to predict the effects of freezing temperature and the geometry of the ice maker machine; on ice production and the freezing time. Lower freezing temperatures allowed more ice production and faster freezing. Increasing the diameter and the length of the freezing tube enabled more ice to be produced.

  20. HybridICE® filter: ice separation in freeze desalination of mine waste waters.

    PubMed

    Adeniyi, A; Maree, J P; Mbaya, R K K; Popoola, A P I; Mtombeni, T; Zvinowanda, C M

    2014-01-01

    Freeze desalination is an alternative method for the treatment of mine waste waters. HybridICE(®) technology is a freeze desalination process which generates ice slurry in surface scraper heat exchangers that use R404a as the primary refrigerant. Ice separation from the slurry takes place in the HybridICE filter, a cylindrical unit with a centrally mounted filter element. Principally, the filter module achieves separation of the ice through buoyancy force in a continuous process. The HybridICE filter is a new and economical means of separating ice from the slurry and requires no washing of ice with water. The performance of the filter at a flow-rate of 25 L/min was evaluated over time and with varied evaporating temperature of the refrigerant. Behaviours of the ice fraction and residence time were also investigated. The objective was to find ways to improve the performance of the filter. Results showed that filter performance can be improved by controlling the refrigerant evaporating temperature and eliminating overflow.

  1. Laboratory experiments to investigate sublimation rates of water ice in nighttime lunar regolith

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piquette, Marcus; Horányi, Mihály; Stern, S. Alan

    2017-09-01

    The existence of water ice on the lunar surface has been a long-standing topic with implications for both lunar science and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Cold traps on the lunar surface may have conditions necessary to retain water ice, but no laboratory experiments have been conducted to verify modeling results. We present an experiment testing the ability to thermally control bulk samples of lunar regolith simulant mixed with water ice under vacuum in an effort to constrain sublimation rates. The simulant used was JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant developed by NASA's Johnson Space Center. Samples with varying ratios of water ice and JSC-1A regolith simulant, totally about 1 kg, were placed under vacuum and cooled to 100 K to simulate conditions in lunar cold traps. The resulting sublimation of water ice over an approximately five-day period was measured by comparing the mass of the samples before and after the experimental run. Our results indicate that water ice in lunar cold traps is stable on timescales comparable to the lunar night, and should continue to be studied as possible resources for future utilization. This experiment also gauges the efficacy of the synthetic lunar atmosphere mission (SLAM) as a low-cost water resupply mission to lunar outposts.

  2. Comparison of the seasonal variability in abundance of the copepod Pseudocalanus newmani in Lagoon Notoro-ko and a coastal area of the southwestern Okhotsk Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kitamura, Mitsuaki; Nakagawa, Yoshizumi; Nishino, Yasuto; Segawa, Susumu; Shiomoto, Akihiro

    2018-03-01

    Replacement of the warm water of the Soya Warm Current (SWC) and the cold water of the East Sakhalin Current (ESC) occurs seasonally along the coast of the southwestern Okhotsk Sea, and sea ice covers the surface during winter. Pseudocalanus newmani is one of the dominant copepods in coastal waters of the northern hemisphere. To better understand the population dynamics of the copepod P. newmani in coastal areas of the southwestern Okhotsk Sea, this study compared the seasonal variation in P. newmani abundance in Lagoon Notoro-ko and a coastal area of the Okhotsk Sea with regard to developmental stage. We sampled P. newmani in the lagoon, including during the ice cover season, and the coastal waters. Pseudocalanus newmani was abundant at both sites in spring. During summer-fall, adults disappeared from the populations at both sites, whereas the early developmental stages were abundant and dominated the population. Total length of adult females decreased toward summer at both sites. Pseudocalanus newmani abundance in the lagoon increased in early winter, and larger females were found in the populations at both sites. These phenomena at both sites corresponded with seasonal variation in water temperature caused by seasonal water-mass replacement and sea ice.

  3. Polarization of 'water-skies' above arctic open waters: how polynyas in the ice-cover can be visually detected from a distance.

    PubMed

    Hegedüs, Ramón; Akesson, Susanne; Horváth, Gábor

    2007-01-01

    The foggy sky above a white ice-cover and a dark water surface (permanent polynya or temporary lead) is white and dark gray, phenomena called the 'ice-sky' and the 'water-sky,' respectively. Captains of icebreaker ships used to search for not-directly-visible open waters remotely on the basis of the water sky. Animals depending on open waters in the Arctic region may also detect not-directly-visible waters from a distance by means of the water sky. Since the polarization of ice-skies and water-skies has not, to our knowledge, been studied before, we measured the polarization patterns of water-skies above polynyas in the arctic ice-cover during the Beringia 2005 Swedish polar research expedition to the North Pole region. We show that there are statistically significant differences in the angle of polarization between the water-sky and the ice-sky. This polarization phenomenon could help biological and man-made sensors to detect open waters not directly visible from a distance. However, the threshold of polarization-based detection would be rather low, because the degree of linear polarization of light radiated by water-skies and ice-skies is not higher than 10%.

  4. The catalytic role of water in the photochemistry of ammonia ice: from diluted to concentrated phase

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jonusas, Mindaugas; Krim, Lahouari

    2017-10-01

    Using infrared spectroscopy as an in situ probe for reactions occurring in the solid phase, we investigated the influence of water molecules on the photochemistry of ammonia ices. Experiments were carried out in diluted and concentrated phases and between 3 and 130 K. We showed that the photolysis of NH3-H2O (2 per cent of H2O) ices using continuous radiation from 115 to 400 nm produces NH2OH as the main photoproduct, but also that such a photoinduced reaction strongly depends on both the initial ice temperature and the environment where the primary reactants NH3 and H2O are trapped. Our experimental results highlight the catalytic role played by H2O molecules in enhancing the formation yield of NH2 during the photolysis process through the NH3 + OH → NH2 + H2O hydrogen abstraction reaction, which is only favored at low temperatures in the range of 3-60 K. During heating of such irradiated ammonia-water ices, the amount of NH2OH keeps rising while that of NH2, is greatly reduced only from 70 K onwards. These behaviours are attributed to the competition that occurs between NH2 formation from the NH3 + OH reaction and its consumption from the NH2 + OH radical recombination. These results might explain the variable abundances of NH2 and NH3 provided by previous astronomical observations, where the NH2/NH3 ratio ranges from 0.02 to 0.5 depending on the regions of the interstellar medium that were analysed.

  5. FORMATION AND ALIGNMENT OF ELONGATED, FRACTAL-LIKE WATER-ICE GRAINS IN EXTREMELY COLD, WEAKLY IONIZED PLASMA

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Chai, Kil-Byoung; Bellan, Paul M., E-mail: kbchai@caltech.edu, E-mail: pbellan@caltech.edu

    2015-04-01

    Elongated, fractal-like water-ice grains are observed to form spontaneously when water vapor is injected into a weakly ionized laboratory plasma formed in a background gas cooled to an astrophysically relevant temperature. The water-ice grains form in 1–2 minutes, levitate with regular spacing, and are aligned parallel to the sheath electric field. Water-ice grains formed in plasma where the neutrals and ions have low mass, such as hydrogen and helium, are larger, more elongated, and more fractal-like than water-ice grains formed in plasmas where the neutrals and ions have high mass such as argon and krypton. Typical aspect ratios (length tomore » width ratio) are as great as 5 while typical fractal dimensions are ∼1.7. Water-ice grain lengths in plasmas with low neutral and ion masses can be several hundred microns long. Infrared absorption spectroscopy reveals that the water-ice grains are crystalline and so are similar in constitution to the water-ice grains in protoplanetary disks, Saturn’s rings, and mesospheric clouds. The properties and behavior of these laboratory water-ice grains may provide insights into morphology and alignment behavior of water-ice grains in astrophysical dusty plasmas.« less

  6. Aquifer water abundance evaluation using a fuzzy- comprehensive weighting method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wei, Z.

    2016-08-01

    Aquifer water abundance evaluation is a highly relevant issue that has been researched for many years. Despite prior research, problems with the conventional evaluation method remain. This paper establishes an aquifer water abundance evaluation method that combines fuzzy evaluation with a comprehensive weighting method to overcome both the subjectivity and lack of conformity in determining weight by pure data analysis alone. First, this paper introduces the principle of a fuzzy-comprehensive weighting method. Second, the example of well field no. 3 (of a coalfield) is used to illustrate the method's process. The evaluation results show that this method is can more suitably meet the real requirements of aquifer water abundance assessment, leading to more precise and accurate evaluations. Ultimately, this paper provides a new method for aquifer water abundance evaluation.

  7. Ice water path estimation and characterization using passive microwave radiometry

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vivekanandan, J.; Turk, J.; Bringi, V. N.

    1991-01-01

    Model computations of top-of-atmospheric microwave brightness temperatures T(B) from layers of precipitation-sized ice of variable bulk density and ice water content (IWC) are presented. It is shown that the 85-GHz T(B) depends essentially on the ice optical thickness. The results demonstrate the potential usefulness of scattering-based channels for characterizing the ice phase and suggest a top-down methodology for retrieval of cloud vertical structure and precipitation estimation from multifrequency passive microwave measurements. Attention is also given to radiative transfer model results based on the multiparameter radar data initialization from the Cooperative Huntsville Meteorological Experiment (COHMEX) in northern Alabama. It is shown that brightness temperature warming effects due to the inclusion of a cloud liquid water profile are especially significant at 85 GHz during later stages of cloud evolution.

  8. Ice/water slurry blocking phenomenon at a tube orifice.

    PubMed

    Hirochi, Takero; Yamada, Shuichi; Shintate, Tuyoshi; Shirakashi, Masataka

    2002-10-01

    The phenomenon of ice-particle/water mixture blocking flow through a pipeline is a problem that needs to be solved before mixture flow can be applied for practical use in cold energy transportation in a district cooling system. In this work, the blocking mechanism of ice-particle slurry at a tube orifice is investigated and a criterion for blocking is presented. The cohesive nature of ice particles is shown to cause compressed plug type blocking and the compressive yield stress of a particle cluster is presented as a measure for the cohesion strength of ice particles.

  9. Mars atmospheric water vapor abundance: 1996-1997

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sprague, A. L.; Hunten, D. M.; Doose, L. R.; Hill, R. E.

    2003-05-01

    Measurements of martian atmospheric water vapor made throughout Ls = 18.0°-146.4° (October 3, 1996-July 12, 1997) show changes in Mars humidity on hourly, daily, and seasonal time scales. Because our observing program during the 1996-1997 Mars apparition did not include concomitant measurement of nearby CO 2 bands, high northern latitude data were corrected for dust and aerosol extinction assuming an optical depth of 0.8, consistent with ground-based and HST imaging of northern dust storms. All other measurements with airmass greater than 3.5 were corrected using a total optical depth of 0.5. Three dominant results from this data set are as follows: (1) pre- and post-opposition measurements made with the slit crossing many hours of local time on Mars' Earth-facing disk show a distinct diurnal pattern with highest abundances around and slightly after noon with low abundances in the late afternoon, (2) measurements of water vapor over the Mars Pathfinder landing site (Carl Sagan Memorial Station) on July 12, 1997, found 21 ppt μm in the spatial sector centered near 19° latitude, 36° longitude while abundances around the site varied from as low as 6 to as high as 28 ppt μm, and (3) water vapor abundance is patchy on hourly and daily time scales but follows the usual seasonal trends.

  10. Triple Isotope Water Measurements of Lake Untersee Ice using Off-Axis ICOS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berman, E. S.; Huang, Y. W.; Andersen, D. T.; Gupta, M.; McKay, C. P.

    2015-12-01

    Lake Untersee (71.348°S, 13.458°E) is the largest surface freshwater lake in the interior of the Gruber Mountains of central Queen Maud Land in East Antarctica. The lake is permanently covered with ice, is partly bounded by glacier ice and has a mean annual air temperature of -10°C. In contrast to other Antarctic lakes the dominating physical process controlling ice-cover dynamics is low summer temperatures and high wind speeds resulting in sublimation rather than melting as the main mass-loss process. The ice-cover of the lake is composed of lake-water ice formed during freeze-up and rafted glacial ice derived from the Anuchin Glacier. The mix of these two fractions impacts the energy balance of the lake, which directly affects ice-cover thickness. Ice-cover is important if one is to understand the physical, chemical, and biological linkages within these unique, physically driven ecosystems. We have analyzed δ2H, δ18O, and δ17O from samples of lake and glacier ice collected at Lake Untersee in Dec 2014. Using these data we seek to answer two specific questions: Are we able to determine the origin and history of the lake ice, discriminating between rafted glacial ice and lake water? Can isotopic gradients in the surface ice indicate the ablation (sublimation) rate of the surface ice? The triple isotope water analyzer developed by Los Gatos Research (LGR 912-0032) uses LGR's patented Off-Axis ICOS (Integrated Cavity Output Spectroscopy) technology and incorporates proprietary internal thermal control for high sensitivity and optimal instrument stability. This analyzer measures δ2H, δ18O, and δ17O from water, as well as the calculated d-excess and 17O-excess. The laboratory precision in high performance mode for both δ17O and δ18O is 0.03 ‰, and for δ2H is 0.2 ‰. Methodology and isotope data from Lake Untersee samples are presented. Figure: Ice samples were collected across Lake Untersee from both glacial and lake ice regions for this study.

  11. The structural changes of water ice I during warmup

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jenniskens, Peter; Blake, David F.

    1994-01-01

    The polymorph transitions of vapor deposited water ice I during warmup from 15 K to 210 K was mapped by means of selected area electron diffraction. The polymorph transitions account for many phenomena observed in laboratory analog studies of cometary outgassing and radial diffusion in UV photolyzed interstellar ices.

  12. Unusual dynamic properties of water near the ice-binding plane of hyperactive antifreeze protein

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kuffel, Anna; Czapiewski, Dariusz; Zielkiewicz, Jan, E-mail: jaz@chem.pg.gda.pl

    2015-10-07

    The dynamical properties of solvation water of hyperactive antifreeze protein from Choristoneura fumiferana (CfAFP) are analyzed and discussed in context of its antifreeze activity. The protein comprises of three well-defined planes and one of them binds to the surface of ice. The dynamical properties of solvation water around each of these planes were analyzed separately; the results are compared with the dynamical properties of solvation water of ice around its two crystallographic planes: basal and prism. Three main conclusions are inferred from our investigations. The first one is that the solvation shell of CfAFP does not seem to be particularlymore » far-ranged, at least not beyond what is usually observed for proteins that do not interact with ice. Therefore, it does not appear to us that the antifreeze activity is enhanced by a long-ranged retardation of water mobility. Also the correlation between the collective mobility of water and the collective mobility of protein atoms highly resembles the one measured for the protein that does not interact with ice. Our second conclusion is that the dynamical properties of solvation water of CfAFP are non-uniform. The dynamics of solvation water of ice-binding plane is, in some respects, different from the dynamics of solvation water of the two remaining planes. The feature that distinguishes the dynamics of solvation water of the three planes is the activation energy of diffusion process. The third conclusion is that—from the three analyzed solvation shells of CfAFP—the dynamical properties of solvation water of the ice-binding plane resemble the most the properties of solvation water of ice; note, however, that these properties still clearly differ from the dynamic properties of solvation water of ice.« less

  13. Ice-Water Immersion and Cold-Water Immersion Provide Similar Cooling Rates in Runners With Exercise-Induced Hyperthermia

    PubMed Central

    Clements, Julie M.; Casa, Douglas J.; Knight, J. Chad; McClung, Joseph M.; Blake, Alan S.; Meenen, Paula M.; Gilmer, Allison M.; Caldwell, Kellie A.

    2002-01-01

    Objective: To assess whether ice-water immersion or cold-water immersion is the more effective treatment for rapidly cooling hyperthermic runners. Design and Setting: 17 heat-acclimated highly trained distance runners (age = 28 ± 2 years, height = 180 ± 2 cm, weight = 68.5 ± 2.1 kg, body fat = 11.2 ± 1.3%, training volume = 89 ± 10 km/wk) completed a hilly trail run (approximately 19 km and 86 minutes) in the heat (wet-bulb globe temperature = 27 ± 1°C) at an individually selected “comfortable” pace on 3 occasions 1 week apart. The random, crossover design included (1) distance run, then 12 minutes of ice-water immersion (5.15 ± 0.20°C), (2) distance run, then 12 minutes of cold-water immersion (14.03 ± 0.28°C), or (3) distance run, then 12 minutes of mock immersion (no water, air temperature = 28.88 ± 0.76°C). Measurements: Each subject was immersed from the shoulders to the hip joints for 12 minutes in a tub. Three minutes elapsed between the distance run and the start of immersion. Rectal temperature was recorded at the start of immersion, at each minute of immersion, and 3, 6, 10, and 15 minutes postimmersion. No rehydration occurred during any trial. Results: Length of distance run, time to complete distance run, rectal temperature, and percentage of dehydration after distance run were similar (P > .05) among all trials, as was the wet-bulb globe temperature. No differences (P > .05) for cooling rates were found when comparing ice-water immersion, cold-water immersion, and mock immersion at the start of immersion to 4 minutes, 4 to 8 minutes, and the start of immersion to 8 minutes. Ice-water immersion and cold-water immersion cooling rates were similar (P > .05) to each other and greater (P < .05) than mock immersion at 8 to 12 minutes, the start of immersion to 10 minutes, and the start of immersion to every other time point thereafter. Rectal temperatures were similar (P > .05) between ice-water immersion and cold-water immersion at the

  14. The adsorption of fungal ice-nucleating proteins on mineral dusts: a terrestrial reservoir of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    O'Sullivan, Daniel; Murray, Benjamin J.; Ross, James F.; Webb, Michael E.

    2016-06-01

    The occurrence of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in our atmosphere has a profound impact on the properties and lifetime of supercooled clouds. To date, the identities, sources and abundances of particles capable of nucleating ice at relatively low supercoolings (T > -15 °C) remain enigmatic. While biomolecules such as proteins and carbohydrates have been implicated as important high-temperature INPs, the lack of knowledge on the environmental fates of these species makes it difficult to assess their potential atmospheric impacts. Here we show that such nanoscale ice-nucleating proteins from a common soil-borne fungus (Fusarium avenaceum) preferentially bind to and confer their ice-nucleating properties to kaolinite. The ice-nucleating activity of the proteinaceous INPs is unaffected by adsorption to the clay, and once bound the proteins do not readily desorb, retaining much of the activity even after multiple washings with pure water. The atmospheric implications of the finding that biological residues can confer their ice-nucleating ability to dust particles are discussed.

  15. Contrasting influences of aerosols on cloud properties during deficient and abundant monsoon years

    PubMed Central

    Patil, Nitin; Dave, Prashant; Venkataraman, Chandra

    2017-01-01

    Direct aerosol radiative forcing facilitates the onset of Indian monsoon rainfall, based on synoptic scale fast responses acting over timescales of days to a month. Here, we examine relationships between aerosols and coincident clouds over the Indian subcontinent, using observational data from 2000 to 2009, from the core monsoon region. Season mean and daily timescales were considered. The correlation analyses of cloud properties with aerosol optical depth revealed that deficient monsoon years were characterized by more frequent and larger decreases in cloud drop size and ice water path, but increases in cloud top pressure, with increases in aerosol abundance. The opposite was observed during abundant monsoon years. The correlations of greater aerosol abundance, with smaller cloud drop size, lower evidence of ice processes and shallower cloud height, during deficient rainfall years, imply cloud inhibition; while those with larger cloud drop size, greater ice processes and a greater cloud vertical extent, during abundant rainfall years, suggest cloud invigoration. The study establishes that continental aerosols over India alter cloud properties in diametrically opposite ways during contrasting monsoon years. The mechanisms underlying these effects need further analysis. PMID:28337991

  16. Contrasting influences of aerosols on cloud properties during deficient and abundant monsoon years.

    PubMed

    Patil, Nitin; Dave, Prashant; Venkataraman, Chandra

    2017-03-24

    Direct aerosol radiative forcing facilitates the onset of Indian monsoon rainfall, based on synoptic scale fast responses acting over timescales of days to a month. Here, we examine relationships between aerosols and coincident clouds over the Indian subcontinent, using observational data from 2000 to 2009, from the core monsoon region. Season mean and daily timescales were considered. The correlation analyses of cloud properties with aerosol optical depth revealed that deficient monsoon years were characterized by more frequent and larger decreases in cloud drop size and ice water path, but increases in cloud top pressure, with increases in aerosol abundance. The opposite was observed during abundant monsoon years. The correlations of greater aerosol abundance, with smaller cloud drop size, lower evidence of ice processes and shallower cloud height, during deficient rainfall years, imply cloud inhibition; while those with larger cloud drop size, greater ice processes and a greater cloud vertical extent, during abundant rainfall years, suggest cloud invigoration. The study establishes that continental aerosols over India alter cloud properties in diametrically opposite ways during contrasting monsoon years. The mechanisms underlying these effects need further analysis.

  17. Accretion growth of water-ice grains in astrophysically-relevant dusty plasma experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chai, Kil-Byoung; Marshall, Ryan; Bellan, Paul

    2016-10-01

    The grain growth process in the Caltech water-ice dusty plasma experiment has been studied using a high-speed camera equipped with a long-distance microscope lens. It is found that (i) the ice grain number density decreases four-fold as the average grain length increases from 20 to 80 um, (ii) the ice grain length has a log-normal distribution rather than a power-law dependence, and (iii) no collisions between ice grains are apparent. The grains have a large negative charge so the agglomeration growth is prevented by their strong mutual repulsion. It is concluded that direct accretion of water molecules is in good agreement with the observed ice grain growth. The volumetric packing factor of the ice grains must be less than 0.25 in order for the grain kinetic energy to be sufficiently small to prevent collisions between ice grains; this conclusion is consistent with ice grain images showing a fractal character.

  18. Insights into the effects of patchy ice layers on water balance heterogeneity in peatlands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dixon, Simon; Kettridge, Nicholas; Devito, Kevin; Petrone, Rich; Mendoza, Carl; Waddington, Mike

    2017-04-01

    Peatlands in boreal and sub-arctic settings are characterised by a high degree of seasonality. During winter soils are frozen and snow covers the surface preventing peat moss growth. Conversely, in summer, soils unfreeze and rain and evapotranspiration drive moss productivity. Although advances have been made in understanding growing season water balance and moss dynamics in northern peatlands, there remains a gap in knowledge of inter-seasonal water balance as layers of ice break up during the spring thaw. Understanding the effects of ice layers on spring water balance is important as this coincides with periods of high wildfire risk, such as the devastating Fort McMurrary wildfire of May, 2016. We hypothesise that shallow layers of ice disconnect the growing surface of moss from a falling water table, and prevent water from being supplied from depth. A disconnect between the evaporating surface and deeper water storage will lead to the drying out of the surface layer of moss and a greater risk of severe spring wildfires. We utilise the unsaturated flow model Hydrus 2D to explore water balance in peat layers with an impermeable layer representing ice. Additionally we create models to represent the heterogeneous break up of ice layers observed in Canadian boreal peatlands; these models explore the ability of breaks in an ice layer to connect the evaporating surface to a deeper water table. Results show that peatlands with slower rates of moss growth respond to dry periods by limiting evapotranspiration and thus maintain moist conditions in the sub-surface and a water table above the ice layer. Peatlands which are more productive continue to grow moss and evaporate during dry periods; this results in the near surface mosses drying out and the water table dropping below the level of the ice. Where there are breaks in the ice layer the evaporating surface is able to maintain contact with a falling water table, but connectivity is limited to above the breaks, with

  19. Ice as a Construction Material

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zuppero, Anthony; Lewis, J.

    1998-01-01

    This presentation shows how water and ice can enable exceptionally simple ways to construct structures in deep space. Practicality is underscored by applying advanced tank methods being developed for Mars missions. Water or ice is now known to be present or abundant on most objects in the solar system, starting with the planet Mercury. Thermal processes alone can be used to melt ice . The cold of space can refreeze water back into ice. The anomalous low vapor pressure of water, about 7 mm Hg, permits bladder containers. Tanks or bladders made with modern polymer fiber and film can exhibit very small (<0.1 %) equivalent tankage and ullage fractions and thus hold thousands of tons of water per ton bladder. Injecting water into a bladder whose shape when inflated is the desired final shape, such as a space vehicle, provides a convenient way to construct large structures. In space, structures of 1O,OOO-T mass become feasible because the bladder mass is low enough to be launched. The bladder can weigh 1OOO times less than its contents, or 10 T. The bladder would be packed like a parachute. Shaped memory materials and/or gas inflation could reestablish the desired structure shape after unpacking. The water comes from space resources. An example examines construction of torus space vehicle with 100-m nominal dimension. People would live inside the torus. A torus, like a tire on an automobile, would spin and provide synthetic gravity at its inner surface. A torus of order 100 m across would provide a gravity with gradients low enough to mitigate against vertigo.

  20. Disk Evolution, Element Abundances and Cloud Properties of Young Gas Giant Planets

    PubMed Central

    Helling, Christiane; Woitke, Peter; Rimmer, Paul B.; Kamp, Inga; Thi, Wing-Fai; Meijerink, Rowin

    2014-01-01

    We discuss the chemical pre-conditions for planet formation, in terms of gas and ice abundances in a protoplanetary disk, as function of time and position, and the resulting chemical composition and cloud properties in the atmosphere when young gas giant planets form, in particular discussing the effects of unusual, non-solar carbon and oxygen abundances. Large deviations between the abundances of the host star and its gas giants seem likely to occur if the planet formation follows the core-accretion scenario. These deviations stem from the separate evolution of gas and dust in the disk, where the dust forms the planet cores, followed by the final run-away accretion of the left-over gas. This gas will contain only traces of elements like C, N and O, because those elements have frozen out as ices. ProDiMo protoplanetary disk models are used to predict the chemical evolution of gas and ice in the midplane. We find that cosmic rays play a crucial role in slowly un-blocking the CO, where the liberated oxygen forms water, which then freezes out quickly. Therefore, the C/O ratio in the gas phase is found to gradually increase with time, in a region bracketed by the water and CO ice-lines. In this regions, C/O is found to approach unity after about 5 Myrs, scaling with the cosmic ray ionization rate assumed. We then explore how the atmospheric chemistry and cloud properties in young gas giants are affected when the non-solar C/O ratios predicted by the disk models are assumed. The Drift cloud formation model is applied to study the formation of atmospheric clouds under the influence of varying premordial element abundances and its feedback onto the local gas. We demonstrate that element depletion by cloud formation plays a crucial role in converting an oxygen-rich atmosphere gas into carbon-rich gas when non-solar, premordial element abundances are considered as suggested by disk models. PMID:25370190

  1. Disk evolution, element abundances and cloud properties of young gas giant planets.

    PubMed

    Helling, Christiane; Woitke, Peter; Rimmer, Paul B; Kamp, Inga; Thi, Wing-Fai; Meijerink, Rowin

    2014-04-14

    We discuss the chemical pre-conditions for planet formation, in terms of gas and ice abundances in a protoplanetary disk, as function of time and position, and the resulting chemical composition and cloud properties in the atmosphere when young gas giant planets form, in particular discussing the effects of unusual, non-solar carbon and oxygen abundances. Large deviations between the abundances of the host star and its gas giants seem likely to occur if the planet formation follows the core-accretion scenario. These deviations stem from the separate evolution of gas and dust in the disk, where the dust forms the planet cores, followed by the final run-away accretion of the left-over gas. This gas will contain only traces of elements like C, N and O, because those elements have frozen out as ices. PRODIMO protoplanetary disk models are used to predict the chemical evolution of gas and ice in the midplane. We find that cosmic rays play a crucial role in slowly un-blocking the CO, where the liberated oxygen forms water, which then freezes out quickly. Therefore, the C/O ratio in the gas phase is found to gradually increase with time, in a region bracketed by the water and CO ice-lines. In this regions, C/O is found to approach unity after about 5 Myrs, scaling with the cosmic ray ionization rate assumed. We then explore how the atmospheric chemistry and cloud properties in young gas giants are affected when the non-solar C/O ratios predicted by the disk models are assumed. The DRIFT cloud formation model is applied to study the formation of atmospheric clouds under the influence of varying premordial element abundances and its feedback onto the local gas. We demonstrate that element depletion by cloud formation plays a crucial role in converting an oxygen-rich atmosphere gas into carbon-rich gas when non-solar, premordial element abundances are considered as suggested by disk models.

  2. Bacterial community dynamics and activity in relation to dissolved organic matter availability during sea-ice formation in a mesocosm experiment.

    PubMed

    Eronen-Rasimus, Eeva; Kaartokallio, Hermanni; Lyra, Christina; Autio, Riitta; Kuosa, Harri; Dieckmann, Gerhard S; Thomas, David N

    2014-02-01

    The structure of sea-ice bacterial communities is frequently different from that in seawater. Bacterial entrainment in sea ice has been studied with traditional microbiological, bacterial abundance, and bacterial production methods. However, the dynamics of the changes in bacterial communities during the transition from open water to frozen sea ice is largely unknown. Given previous evidence that the nutritional status of the parent water may affect bacterial communities during ice formation, bacterial succession was studied in under ice water and sea ice in two series of mesocosms: the first containing seawater from the North Sea and the second containing seawater enriched with algal-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM). The composition and dynamics of bacterial communities were investigated with terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), and cloning alongside bacterial production (thymidine and leucine uptake) and abundance measurements (measured by flow cytometry). Enriched and active sea-ice bacterial communities developed in ice formed in both unenriched and DOM-enriched seawater (0-6 days). γ-Proteobacteria dominated in the DOM-enriched samples, indicative of their capability for opportunistic growth in sea ice. The bacterial communities in the unenriched waters and ice consisted of the classes Flavobacteria, α- and γ-Proteobacteria, which are frequently found in natural sea ice in polar regions. Furthermore, the results indicate that seawater bacterial communities are able to adapt rapidly to sudden environmental changes when facing considerable physicochemical stress such as the changes in temperature, salinity, nutrient status, and organic matter supply during ice formation. © 2014 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. The distribution of Martian ground ice at other epochs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mellon, M. T.; Jakosky, B. M.

    1993-01-01

    The past orbital evolution of Mars is examined in relation to changes in ice stability as well as the condensation, sublimation, and diffusion of atmospheric water in an exchange with the regolith. The Martian obliquity has undergone significant oscillations in its recent past. During periods of high obliquity, the solar energy would have been distributed such that the equatorial and midlatitude regions would have been colder that at present and the polar regions would have been warmer. Warmer polar regions would result in the sublimation of more polar cap water into the atmosphere and thus higher atmospheric water abundances. This combination of effects would have resulted in ground ice being stable globally. During periods of low obliquity the opposite would have occurred. Modeling results of the regolith thermal behavior and the molecular diffusion of water vapor within the regolith and in exchange with the atmosphere have shown significant quantities of ground ice can form at all latitudes within the top 50 cm to 1 m of the regolith during periods of high obliquity. The amount of ice that forms can be as much as the regolith pores can hold. During low obliquity most or all of this ice sublimes and diffuses away. Below this depth a longer-term stability is observed at some latitudes where ice steadily increases in concentration regardless of orbital oscillations that occur.

  4. Thermodynamics of the formaldehyde-water and formaldehyde-ice systems for atmospheric applications.

    PubMed

    Barret, Manuel; Houdier, Stephan; Domine, Florent

    2011-01-27

    Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a species involved in numerous key atmospheric chemistry processes that can significantly impact the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. Since gaseous HCHO is soluble in water, the water droplets of clouds and the ice crystals of snow exchange HCHO with the gas phase and the partitioning of HCHO between the air, water, and ice phases must be known to understand its chemistry. This study proposes thermodynamic formulations for the partitioning of HCHO between the gas phase and the ice and liquid water phases. A reanalysis of existing data on the vapor-liquid equilibrium has shown the inadequacy of the Henry's law formulation, and we instead propose the following equation to predict the mole fraction of HCHO in liquid water at equilibrium, X(HCHO,liq), as a function of the partial pressure P(HCHO) (Pa) and temperature T (K): X(HCHO,liq) = 1.700 × 10(-15) e((8014/T))(P(HCHO))(1.105). Given the paucity of data on the gas-ice equilibrium, the solubility of HCHO and the diffusion coefficient (D(HCHO)) in ice were measured by exposing large single ice crystals to low P(HCHO). Our recommended value for D(HCHO) over the temperature range 243-266 K is D(HCHO) = 6 × 10(-12) cm(2) s(-1). The solubility of HCHO in ice follows the relationship X(HCHO,ice) = 9.898 × 10(-13) e((4072/T))(P(HCHO))(0.803). Extrapolation of these data yields the P(HCHO) versus 1/T phase diagram for the H(2)O-HCHO system. The comparison of our results to existing data on the partitioning of HCHO between the snow and the atmosphere in the high arctic highlights the interplay between thermodynamic equilibrium and kinetics processes in natural systems.

  5. Prebiotic chemistry in eutectic solutions at the water-ice matrix.

    PubMed

    Menor-Salván, César; Marín-Yaseli, Margarita R

    2012-08-21

    A crystalline ice matrix at subzero temperatures can maintain a liquid phase where organic solutes and salts concentrate to form eutectic solutions. This concentration effect converts the confined reactant solutions in the ice matrix, sometimes making condensation and polymerisation reactions occur more favourably. These reactions occur at significantly high rates from a prebiotic chemistry standpoint, and the labile products can be protected from degradation. The experimental study of the synthesis of nitrogen heterocycles at the ice-water system showed the efficiency of this scenario and could explain the origin of nucleobases in the inner Solar System bodies, including meteorites and extra-terrestrial ices, and on the early Earth. The same conditions can also favour the condensation of monomers to form ribonucleic acid and peptides. Together with the synthesis of these monomers, the ice world (i.e., the chemical evolution in the range between the freezing point of water and the limit of stability of liquid brines, 273 to 210 K) is an under-explored experimental model in prebiotic chemistry.

  6. Seasonally-Active Water on Mars: Vapour, Ice, Adsorbate, and the Possibility of Liquid

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Richardson, M. I.

    2002-12-01

    Seasonally-active water can be defined to include any water reservoir that communicates with other reservoirs on time scales of a year or shorter. It is the interaction of these water reservoirs, under the influence of varying solar radiation and in conjunction with surface and atmospheric temperatures, that determines the phase-stability field for water at the surface, and the distribution of water in various forms below, on, and above the surface. The atmosphere is the critical, dynamical link in this cycling system, and also (fortunately) one of the easiest to observe. Viking and Mars Global Surveyor observations paint a strongly asymmetric picture of the global seasonal water cycle, tied proximately to planetary eccentricity, and the existence of residual ice caps of different composition at the two poles. The northern summer experiences the largest water vapour columns, and is associated with sublimation from the northern residual water ice cap. The southern summer residual carbon dioxide ice cap is cold trap for water. Asymmetry in the water cycle is an unsolved problem. Possible solutions may involve the current timing of perihelion (the water cap resides at the pole experiencing the longer but cooler summer), the trapping of water ice in the northern hemisphere by tropical water ice clouds, and the bias in the annual-average, zonal-mean atmospheric circulation resulting from the zonal-mean difference in the elevation of the northern and southern hemispheres. Adsorbed and frozen water have proven harder to constrain. Recent Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer results suggest substantial ground ice in the mid- and high-latitudes, but this water is likely below the seasonal skin depth for two reasons: the GRS results are best fit with such a model, and GCM models of the water cycle produce dramatically unrealistic atmospheric vapour distributions when such a very near surface, GRS-like distribution is initialized - ultimately removing the water to the northern and

  7. Lifshitz interaction can promote ice growth at water-silica interfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boström, Mathias; Malyi, Oleksandr I.; Parashar, Prachi; Shajesh, K. V.; Thiyam, Priyadarshini; Milton, Kimball A.; Persson, Clas; Parsons, Drew F.; Brevik, Iver

    2017-04-01

    At air-water interfaces, the Lifshitz interaction by itself does not promote ice growth. On the contrary, we find that the Lifshitz force promotes the growth of an ice film, up to 1-8 nm thickness, near silica-water interfaces at the triple point of water. This is achieved in a system where the combined effect of the retardation and the zero frequency mode influences the short-range interactions at low temperatures, contrary to common understanding. Cancellation between the positive and negative contributions in the Lifshitz spectral function is reversed in silica with high porosity. Our results provide a model for how water freezes on glass and other surfaces.

  8. Spectral properties of ice-particulate mixtures and implications for remote sensing. 1. Intimate mixtures.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Clark, R.N.; Lucey, P.G.

    1984-01-01

    The spectral properties of water ice-partitioning mixtures are studied for the purpose of deriving the ice and particulate abundances from remotely obtained spectra (particulates referring to non-icy materials in the form of grains). Reflectance levels and ice absorption band depths are a complex function of the single scattering albedo of the particulates embedded in the ice. The ice absorption band depths are related to the mean optical path length of photons in ice through Beers law, Fresnel reflection from the ice-crystal faces on the surface, and ice absorption coefficient as a function of wavelength. Laboratory spectra of many ice- particulate mixtures are studied with high-, medium-, and low-albedo particulates.-from Authors

  9. Water in Inhomogeneous Nanoconfinement: Coexistence of Multilayered Liquid and Transition to Ice Nanoribbons.

    PubMed

    Qiu, Hu; Zeng, Xiao Cheng; Guo, Wanlin

    2015-10-27

    Phase behavior and the associated phase transition of water within inhomogeneous nanoconfinement are investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. The nanoconfinement is constructed by a flat bottom plate and a convex top plate. At 300 K, the confined water can be viewed as a coexistence of monolayer, bilayer, and trilayer liquid domains to accommodate the inhomogeneous confinement. With increasing liquid density, the confined water with uneven layers transforms separately into two-dimensional ice crystals with unchanged layer number and rhombic in-plane symmetry for oxygen atoms. The monolayer water undergoes the transition first into a puckered ice nanoribbon, and the bilayer water transforms into a rhombic ice nanoribbon next, followed by the transition of trilayer water into a trilayer ice nanoribbon. The sequential localized liquid-to-solid transition within the inhomogeneous confinement can also be achieved by gradually decreasing the temperature at low liquid densities. These findings of phase behaviors of water under the inhomogeneous nanoconfinement not only extend the phase diagram of confined water but also have implications for realistic nanofluidic systems and microporous materials.

  10. Can xenon in water inhibit ice growth? Molecular dynamics of phase transitions in water-Xe system.

    PubMed

    Artyukhov, Vasilii I; Pulver, Alexander Yu; Peregudov, Alex; Artyuhov, Igor

    2014-07-21

    Motivated by recent experiments showing the promise of noble gases as cryoprotectants, we perform molecular dynamics modeling of phase transitions in water with xenon under cooling. We follow the structure and dynamics of xenon water solution as a function of temperature. Homogeneous nucleation of clathrate hydrate phase is observed and characterized. As the temperature is further reduced we observe hints of dissociation of clathrate due to stronger hydrophobic hydration, pointing towards a possible instability of clathrate at cryogenic temperatures and conversion to an amorphous phase comprised of "xenon + hydration shell" Xe·(H2O)21.5 clusters. Simulations of ice-xenon solution interface in equilibrium and during ice growth reveal the effects of xenon on the ice-liquid interface, where adsorbed xenon causes roughening of ice surface but does not preferentially form clathrate. These results provide evidence against the ice-blocker mechanism of xenon cryoprotection.

  11. Ice Chemistry in Starless Molecular Cores

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalvāns, J.

    2015-06-01

    Starless molecular cores are natural laboratories for interstellar molecular chemistry research. The chemistry of ices in such objects was investigated with a three-phase (gas, surface, and mantle) model. We considered the center part of five starless cores, with their physical conditions derived from observations. The ice chemistry of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and complex organic molecules (COMs) was analyzed. We found that an ice-depth dimension, measured, e.g., in monolayers, is essential for modeling of chemistry in interstellar ices. Particularly, the H2O:CO:CO2:N2:NH3 ice abundance ratio regulates the production and destruction of minor species. It is suggested that photodesorption during the core-collapse period is responsible for the high abundance of interstellar H2O2 and O2H and other species synthesized on the surface. The calculated abundances of COMs in ice were compared to observed gas-phase values. Smaller activation barriers for CO and H2CO hydrogenation may help explain the production of a number of COMs. The observed abundance of methyl formate HCOOCH3 could be reproduced with a 1 kyr, 20 K temperature spike. Possible desorption mechanisms, relevant for COMs, are gas turbulence (ice exposure to interstellar photons) or a weak shock within the cloud core (grain collisions). To reproduce the observed COM abundances with the present 0D model, 1%-10% of ice mass needs to be sublimated. We estimate that the lifetime for starless cores likely does not exceed 1 Myr. Taurus cores are likely to be younger than their counterparts in most other clouds.

  12. Water Ice on Kuiper Belt Object 1996 TO66

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brown, R. H.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Pendleton, Y.

    1999-01-01

    The 1.40-2.40 micron spectrum of Kuiper Belt object (KBO) 1996 TO66 was measured at the Keck Observatory in September 1998. It's spectrum shows the strong absorptions near 1.5 and 2.0 micron characteristic of water ice--the first such detection on a Kuiper Belt object. The depth of the absorption bands and the continuum reflectance of 1996 TO66 also suggest the presence of a black to slightly blue-colored, spectrally featureless particulate material as a minority component mixed with the water ice. In addition, there is evidence that the intensity of the water bands in the spectrum of 1996 TO66 vary with rotational phase suggesting that it has a "patchy" surface.

  13. Soil Water Content Sensors as a Method of Measuring Ice Depth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Whitaker, E.; Reed, D. E.; Desai, A. R.

    2015-12-01

    Lake ice depth provides important information about local and regional climate change, weather patterns, and recreational safety, as well as impacting in situ ecology and carbon cycling. However, it is challenging to measure ice depth continuously from a remote location, as existing methods are too large, expensive, and/or time-intensive. Therefore, we present a novel application that reduces the size and cost issues by using soil water content reflectometer sensors. Analysis of sensors deployed in an environmental chamber using a scale model of a lake demonstrated their value as accurate measures of the change in ice depth over any time period, through measurement of the liquid-to-solid phase change. A robust correlation exists between volumetric water content in time as a function of environmental temperature. This relationship allows us to convert volumetric water content into ice depth. An array of these sensors will be placed in Lake Mendota, Madison, Wisconsin in winter 2015-2016, to create a temporally high-resolution ice depth record, which will be used for ecological or climatological studies while also being transmitted to the public to increase recreational safety.

  14. Ocean-bearing planets near the ice line: How far does the water's edge go?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaidos, E.; Seager, S.; Gaudi, S.

    2008-12-01

    A leading theory for giant planet formation involves the accretion of a solid core, probably ice-rich, that in turn accretes a massive mantle of hydrogen-helium gas from a primordial disk. The relative timing of core formation and disappearance of nebular gas in a few millions of years is critical; the correlation between heavy element abundance in stellar photospheres and their propensity to host giant planets is cited as support for the theory. Conversely, systems that are relatively heavy element-poor or lose their gas earlier should contain either "failed" cores or a set of icy planetary embryos that did not accrete. Indeed, Uranus and Neptune may represent similar embryos that were scattered by Jupiter into the outer disk where they efficiently accreted planetesimals rich in volatiles with low condensation temperatures. We propose that a region straddling the "snowline" (3-5~AU for solar-mass stars) could frequently be inhabited by one or more water ice-rich, super-Earth-mass objects that accreted only a modest amount of nebular gas. We predict that metal-poor bulge and halo stars are more likely to host such objects. Current and future microlensing surveys will be able to determine the population of Earth-mass planets in this range of semimajor axes and test this hypothesis. If they are sufficiently frequent, the nearest examples will be detectable by the Space Interferometer Mission and perhaps a visible-light Terrestrial Planet Finder mission. We show that retention of a ~1~bar hydrogen-helium atmosphere is sufficient to maintain a surface water ocean, depending on semimajor axis and thermal history, and that sufficiently massive, "naked" ice planets can have interior oceans a la Europa. Planets with more substantial (>200~bar) atmospheres will be devoid of a liquid water phase at the surface. The existence of a surface water ocean could be inferred by the absence of highly soluble molecules such as NH3 or SO2 in the atmosphere. Objects with such oceans

  15. Homogeneous ice nucleation and supercooled liquid water in orographic wave clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heymsfield, Andrew J.; Miloshevich, Larry M.

    1993-01-01

    This study investigates ice nucleation mechanisms in cold lenticular wave clouds, a cloud type characterized by quasi-steady-state air motions and microphysical properties. It is concluded that homogeneous ice nucleation is responsible for the ice production in these clouds at temperatures below about -33 C. The lack of ice nucleation observed above -33 C indicates a dearth of ice-forming nuclei, and hence heterogeneous ice nucleation, in these clouds. Aircraft measurements in the temperature range -31 to -41 C show the following complement of simultaneous and abrupt changes in cloud properties that indicate a transition from the liquid phase to ice: disappearance of liquid water; decrease in relative humidity from near water saturation to ice saturation; increase in mean particle size; change in particle concentration; and change in temperature due to the release of latent heat. A numerical model of cloud particle growth and homogeneous ice nucleation is used to aid in interpretation of our in situ measurements. The abrupt changes in observed cloud properties compare favorably, both qualitatively and quantitatively, with results from the homogeneous ice nucleation model. It is shown that the homogeneous ice nucleation rates from the measurements are consistent with the temperature-dependent rates employed by the model (within a factor of 100, corresponding to about 1 C in temperature) in the temperature range -35 deg to -38 C. Given the theoretical basis of the modeled rates, it may be reasonable to apply them throughout the -30 to -50 C temperature range considered by the theory.

  16. Ecology of southern ocean pack ice.

    PubMed

    Brierley, Andrew S; Thomas, David N

    2002-01-01

    Around Antarctica the annual five-fold growth and decay of sea ice is the most prominent physical process and has a profound impact on marine life there. In winter the pack ice canopy extends to cover almost 20 million square kilometres--some 8% of the southern hemisphere and an area larger than the Antarctic continent itself (13.2 million square kilometres)--and is one of the largest, most dynamic ecosystems on earth. Biological activity is associated with all physical components of the sea-ice system: the sea-ice surface; the internal sea-ice matrix and brine channel system; the underside of sea ice and the waters in the vicinity of sea ice that are modified by the presence of sea ice. Microbial and microalgal communities proliferate on and within sea ice and are grazed by a wide range of proto- and macrozooplankton that inhabit the sea ice in large concentrations. Grazing organisms also exploit biogenic material released from the sea ice at ice break-up or melt. Although rates of primary production in the underlying water column are often low because of shading by sea-ice cover, sea ice itself forms a substratum that provides standing stocks of bacteria, algae and grazers significantly higher than those in ice-free areas. Decay of sea ice in summer releases particulate and dissolved organic matter to the water column, playing a major role in biogeochemical cycling as well as seeding water column phytoplankton blooms. Numerous zooplankton species graze sea-ice algae, benefiting additionally because the overlying sea-ice ceiling provides a refuge from surface predators. Sea ice is an important nursery habitat for Antarctic krill, the pivotal species in the Southern Ocean marine ecosystem. Some deep-water fish migrate to shallow depths beneath sea ice to exploit the elevated concentrations of some zooplankton there. The increased secondary production associated with pack ice and the sea-ice edge is exploited by many higher predators, with seals, seabirds and whales

  17. High-contrast observations of (136108) Haumea. A crystalline water-ice multiple system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dumas, C.; Carry, B.; Hestroffer, D.; Merlin, F.

    2011-04-01

    Context. The trans-Neptunian region of the Solar System is populated by a wide variety of icy bodies showing great diversity in orbital behavior, size, surface color, and composition. One can also see there are dynamical families and binary systems. One surprising feature detected in the spectra of some of the largest trans-Neptunians is the presence of crystalline water-ice. This is the case for the large TNO (136 108) Haumea (2003 EL61). Aims: We seek to constrain the state of the water ice of Haumea and its satellites and to investigate possible energy sources that maintain the water ice in its crystalline form. Methods: Spectro-imaging observations in the near infrared were performed with the integral field spectrograph SINFONI mounted on UT4 at the ESO Very Large Telescope. The spectra of both Haumea and its larger satellite Hi'iaka were analyzed. Relative astrometry of the components was also measured, providing a check of the orbital solutions and equinox seasons. Results: We describe the physical characteristics of the crystalline water-ice present on the surface of Haumea and its largest satellite Hi'iaka and analyze possible sources of heating to maintain water in a crystalline state: tidal dissipation in the system components vs. radiogenic source. The surface of Hi'iaka appears to be covered by large grains of water ice, almost entirely in its crystalline form. Under some restricted conditions, both radiogenic heating and tidal forces between Haumea and Hi'iaka could provide the energy needed to maintain the ice in its crystalline state. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile - 60.A-9235.

  18. Improved Instrument for Detecting Water and Ice in Soil

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Buehler, Martin; Chin, Keith; Keymeulen, Didler; McCann, Timothy; Seshadri, Suesh; Anderson, Robert

    2009-01-01

    An instrument measures electrical properties of relatively dry soils to determine their liquid water and/or ice contents. Designed as a prototype of instruments for measuring the liquid-water and ice contents of lunar and planetary soils, the apparatus could also be utilized for similar purposes in research and agriculture involving terrestrial desert soils and sands, and perhaps for measuring ice buildup on aircraft surfaces. This instrument is an improved version of the apparatus described in Measuring Low Concentrations of Liquid Water and Ice in Soil (NPO-41822), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 33, No. 2 (February 2009), page 22. The designs of both versions are based on the fact that the electrical behavior of a typical soil sample is well approximated by a network of resistors and capacitors in which resistances decrease and capacitances increase (and the magnitude and phase angle of impedance changes accordingly) with increasing water content. The previous version included an impedance spectrometer and a jar into which a sample of soil was placed. Four stainless-steel screws at the bottom of the jar were used as electrodes of a fourpoint impedance probe connected to the spectrometer. The present instrument does not include a sample jar and can be operated without acquiring or handling samples. Its impedance probe consists of a compact assembly of electrodes housed near the tip of a cylinder. The electrodes protrude slightly from the cylinder (see Figure 1). In preparation for measurements, the cylinder is simply pushed into the ground to bring the soil into contact with the electrodes.

  19. Circulation and water properties in the landfast ice zone of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weingartner, Thomas J.; Danielson, Seth L.; Potter, Rachel A.; Trefry, John H.; Mahoney, Andy; Savoie, Mark; Irvine, Cayman; Sousa, Leandra

    2017-09-01

    Moorings, hydrography, satellite-tracked drifters, and high-frequency radar data describe the annual cycle in circulation and water properties in the landfast ice zone (LIZ) of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Three seasons, whose duration and characteristics are controlled by landfast ice formation and ablation, define the LIZ: ;winter;, ;break-up;, and ;open-water;. Winter begins in October with ice formation and ends in June when rivers commence discharging. Winter LIZ ice velocities are zero, under-ice currents are weak ( 5 cm s-1), and poorly correlated with winds and local sea level. The along-shore momentum balance is between along-shore pressure gradients and bottom and ice-ocean friction. Currents at the landfast ice-edge are swift ( 35 cm s-1), wind-driven, with large horizontal shears, and potentially unstable. Weak cross-shore velocities ( 1 cm s-1) imply limited exchanges between the LIZ and the outer shelf in winter. The month-long break-up season (June) begins with the spring freshet and concludes when landfast ice detaches from the bottom. Cross-shore currents increase, and the LIZ hosts shallow ( 2 m), strongly-stratified, buoyant and sediment-laden, under-ice river plumes that overlie a sharp, 1 m thick, pycnocline across which salinity increases by 30. The plume salt balance is between entrainment and cross-shore advection. Break-up is followed by the 3-month long open-water season when currents are swift (≥20 cm s-1) and predominantly wind-driven. Winter water properties are initialized by fall advection and evolve slowly due to salt rejection from ice. Fall waters and ice within the LIZ derive from local rivers, the Mackenzie and/or Chukchi shelves, and the Arctic basin.

  20. Water Ice Cloud Opacities and Temperatures Derived from the Viking IRTM Data Set

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    TamppariL. K.; Zurek, R. W.; Paige, D. A.

    1999-01-01

    The degree to which water ice clouds play a role in the Mars climate is unknown. Latent heating of water ice clouds is small and since most hazes appeared to be thin (tau less than or = 1) their radiative effects have been neglected. Condensation likely limits the vertical extent of water vapor in the water column and a lowering of the condensation altitude, as seen in the northern spring and summer, could increase the seasonal exchange of water between the atmosphere and the surface. It has been suggested that water ice cloud formation is more frequent and widespread in the aphelic hemisphere (currently the northern). This may limit water to the northern hemisphere through greater exchange with the regolith and through restricted southward transport of water vapor by the Mars Hadley circulation. In addition, it has been suggested that water ice cloud formation also controls the vertical distribution of atmospheric dust in some seasons. This scavenging of dust may Continuing from the IRTM cloud maps, derived cloud opacities and cloud temperatures for several locations and seasons will be presented. Sensitivities to cloud particle sizes, surface temperature, and dust opacity will be discussed.

  1. The Large Scale Distribution of Water Ice in the Polar Regions of the Moon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jordan, A.; Wilson, J. K.; Schwadron, N.; Spence, H. E.

    2017-12-01

    For in situ resource utilization, one must know where water ice is on the Moon. Many datasets have revealed both surface deposits of water ice and subsurface deposits of hydrogen near the lunar poles, but it has proved difficult to resolve the differences among the locations of these deposits. Despite these datasets disagreeing on how deposits are distributed on small scales, we show that most of these datasets do agree on the large scale distribution of water ice. We present data from the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), LRO's Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND), the Neutron Spectrometer on Lunar Prospector (LPNS), LRO's Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP), LRO's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), and Chandrayaan-1's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3). All, including those that show clear evidence for water ice, reveal surprisingly similar trends with latitude, suggesting that both surface and subsurface datasets are measuring ice. All show that water ice increases towards the poles, and most demonstrate that its signature appears at about ±70° latitude and increases poleward. This is consistent with simulations of how surface and subsurface cold traps are distributed with latitude. This large scale agreement constrains the origin of the ice, suggesting that an ancient cometary impact (or impacts) created a large scale deposit that has been rendered locally heterogeneous by subsequent impacts. Furthermore, it also shows that water ice may be available down to ±70°—latitudes that are more accessible than the poles for landing.

  2. Patterns of ice nuclei from natural water sources in the mountains of Tirol, Austria

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baloh, Philipp; Hanlon, Regina; Pietsch, Renee; Anderson, Christopher; Schmale, David G., III; Grothe, Hinrich

    2017-04-01

    Heterogeneous ice nucleation—the process by which particles can nucleate ice between 0 and -35°C—is important for generating artificial snow. Though abiotic and biotic ice nuclei are present in many different natural and managed ecosystems, little is known about their nature, sources, and ecological roles. We collected samples of water and snow from the mountains of Tyrol, Austria in June, July, and November, 2016. The collected water was mostly from sources with minimal anthropogenic pollution, since most of the water from the sampled streams came from glacial melt. The samples were filtered through a 0.22μm filter, and microorganisms were cultured on different types of media. Resulting colonies were tested for their ice nucleation ability using a droplet freezing assay and identified to the level of the species. The unfiltered water and the filtered water will be subjected to additional assays using cryo microscopy and vibrational microscopy (IR and Raman- spectroscopy). Preliminary analyses suggested that the percentage of ice-nucleating microbes varied with season; greater percentages of ice nucleating microbes were present during colder months. The glacial melt also varies strongly over the year with the fraction of mineral dust suspended in it which serves as an inorganic ice nucleation agent. Further investigation of these samples may help to show the combined ice nuleation abilities of biological and non biological particles present in the mountains of Tirol, Austria. Future work may shed light on how the nucleation properties of the natural water changes with the time of the year and what may be responsible for these changes.

  3. Peculiarities of methane clathrate hydrate formation and solid-state deformation, including possible superheating of water ice

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stern, L.A.; Kirby, S.H.; Durham, W.B.

    1996-01-01

    Slow, constant-volume heating of water ice plus methane gas mixtures forms methane clathrate hydrate by a progressive reaction that occurs at the nascent ice/liquid water interface. As this reaction proceeds, the rate of melting of metastable water ice may be suppressed to allow short-lived superheating of ice to at least 276 kelvin. Plastic flow properties measured on clathrate test specimens are significantly different from those of water ice; under nonhydrostatic stress, methane clathrate undergoes extensive strain hardening and a process of solid-state disproportionation or exsolution at conditions well within its conventional hydrostatic stability field.

  4. Quantification of unsteady heat transfer and phase changing process inside small icing water droplets.

    PubMed

    Jin, Zheyan; Hu, Hui

    2009-05-01

    We report progress made in our recent effort to develop and implement a novel, lifetime-based molecular tagging thermometry (MTT) technique to quantify unsteady heat transfer and phase changing process inside small icing water droplets pertinent to wind turbine icing phenomena. The lifetime-based MTT technique was used to achieve temporally and spatially resolved temperature distribution measurements within small, convectively cooled water droplets to quantify unsteady heat transfer within the small water droplets in the course of convective cooling process. The transient behavior of phase changing process within small icing water droplets was also revealed clearly by using the MTT technique. Such measurements are highly desirable to elucidate underlying physics to improve our understanding about important microphysical phenomena pertinent to ice formation and accreting process as water droplets impinging onto wind turbine blades.

  5. Field observations of slush ice generated during freeze-up in arctic coastal waters

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Reimnitz, E.; Kempema, E.W.

    1987-01-01

    In some years, large volumes of slush ice charged with sediment are generated from frazil crystals in the shallow Beaufort Sea during strong storms at the time of freeze-up. Such events terminate the navigation season, and because of accompanying hostile conditions, little is known about the processes acting. The water-saturated slush ice, which may reach a thickness of 4 m, exists for only a few days before freezing from the surface downward arrests further wave motion or pancake ice forms. Movements of small vessels and divers in the slush ice occurs only in phase with passing waves, producing compression and rarefaction, and internal pressure pulses. Where in contact with the seafloor, the agitated slush ice moves cobble-size material, generates large sediment ripples, and may possibly produce a flat rampart observed on the arctic shoreface in some years. Processes charging the slush ice with as much as 1000 m3 km-2 of sediment remain uncertain, but our field observations rule out previously proposed filtration from turbid waters as a likely mechanism. Sedimentary particles apparently are only trapped in the interstices of the slush ice rather than being held by adhesion, since wave-related internal pressure oscillations result in downward particle movement and cleansing of the slush ice. This loss of sediment explains the typical downward increase in sediment concentration in that part of the fast-ice canopy composed largely of frazil ice. The congealing slush ice in coastal water does not become fast ice until grounded ridges are formed in the stamukhi zone, one to two months after freeze-up begins. During this period of new-ice mobility, long-range sediment transport occurs. The sediment load held by the fast-ice canopy in the area between the Colville and Sagavanirktok River deltas in the winter of 1978-1979 was 16 times larger than the yearly river input to the same area. This sediment most likely was rafted from Canada, more than 400 km to the east, during

  6. Microbiological quality of ice and ice machines used in food establishments.

    PubMed

    Hampikyan, Hamparsun; Bingol, Enver Baris; Cetin, Omer; Colak, Hilal

    2017-06-01

    The ice used in the food industry has to be safe and the water used in ice production should have the quality of drinking water. The consumption of contaminated ice directly or indirectly may be a vehicle for transmission of pathogenic bacteria to humans producing outbreaks of gastrointestinal diseases. The objective of this study was to monitor the microbiological quality of ice, the water used in producing ice and the hygienic conditions of ice making machines in various food enterprises. Escherichia coli was detected in seven (6.7%) ice and 23 (21.9%) ice chest samples whereas E. coli was negative in all examined water samples. Psychrophilic bacteria were detected in 83 (79.0%) of 105 ice chest and in 68 (64.7%) of 105 ice samples, whereas Enterococci were detected only in 13 (12.4%) ice samples. Coliforms were detected in 13 (12.4%) water, 71 (67.6%) ice chest and 54 (51.4%) ice samples. In order to improve the microbiological quality of ice, the maintenance, cleaning and disinfecting of ice machines should be carried out effectively and periodically. Also, high quality water should be used for ice production.

  7. Exposed water ice discovered near the south pole of Mars

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Titus, T.N.; Kieffer, H.H.; Christensen, P.R.

    2003-01-01

    The Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) has discovered water ice exposed near the edge of Mars' southern perennial polar cap. The surface H2O ice was first observed by THEMIS as a region that was cooler than expected for dry soil at that latitude during the summer season. Diurnal and seasonal temperature trends derived from Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer observations indicate that there is H2O ice at the surface. Viking observations, and the few other relevant THEMIS observations, indicate that surface H2O ice may be widespread around and under the perennial CO2 cap.

  8. Improved methodologies for continuous-flow analysis of stable water isotopes in ice cores

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jones, Tyler R.; White, James W. C.; Steig, Eric J.; Vaughn, Bruce H.; Morris, Valerie; Gkinis, Vasileios; Markle, Bradley R.; Schoenemann, Spruce W.

    2017-02-01

    Water isotopes in ice cores are used as a climate proxy for local temperature and regional atmospheric circulation as well as evaporative conditions in moisture source regions. Traditional measurements of water isotopes have been achieved using magnetic sector isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). However, a number of recent studies have shown that laser absorption spectrometry (LAS) performs as well or better than IRMS. The new LAS technology has been combined with continuous-flow analysis (CFA) to improve data density and sample throughput in numerous prior ice coring projects. Here, we present a comparable semi-automated LAS-CFA system for measuring high-resolution water isotopes of ice cores. We outline new methods for partitioning both system precision and mixing length into liquid and vapor components - useful measures for defining and improving the overall performance of the system. Critically, these methods take into account the uncertainty of depth registration that is not present in IRMS nor fully accounted for in other CFA studies. These analyses are achieved using samples from a South Pole firn core, a Greenland ice core, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core. The measurement system utilizes a 16-position carousel contained in a freezer to consecutively deliver ˜ 1 m × 1.3 cm2 ice sticks to a temperature-controlled melt head, where the ice is converted to a continuous liquid stream and eventually vaporized using a concentric nebulizer for isotopic analysis. An integrated delivery system for water isotope standards is used for calibration to the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW) scale, and depth registration is achieved using a precise overhead laser distance device with an uncertainty of ±0.2 mm. As an added check on the system, we perform inter-lab LAS comparisons using WAIS Divide ice samples, a corroboratory step not taken in prior CFA studies. The overall results are important for substantiating data obtained from LAS

  9. Airborne thickness and freeboard measurements over the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica, and implications for ice density

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rack, Wolfgang; Haas, Christian; Langhorne, Pat J.

    2013-11-01

    We present airborne measurements to investigate the thickness of the western McMurdo Ice Shelf in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica. Because of basal accretion of marine ice and brine intrusions conventional radar systems are limited in detecting the ice thickness in this area. In November 2009, we used a helicopter-borne laser and electromagnetic induction sounder (EM bird) to measure several thickness and freeboard profiles across the ice shelf. The maximum electromagnetically detectable ice thickness was about 55 m. Assuming hydrostatic equilibrium, the simultaneous measurement of ice freeboard and thickness was used to derive bulk ice densities ranging from 800 to 975 kg m-3. Densities higher than those of pure ice can be largely explained by the abundance of sediments accumulated at the surface and present within the ice shelf, and are likely to a smaller extent related to the overestimation of ice thickness by the electromagnetic induction measurement related to the presence of a subice platelet layer. The equivalent thickness of debris at a density of 2800 kg m-3 is found to be up to about 2 m thick. A subice platelet layer below the ice shelf, similar to what is observed in front of the ice shelf below the sea ice, is likely to exist in areas of highest thickness. The thickness and density distribution reflects a picture of areas of basal freezing and supercooled Ice Shelf Water emerging from below the central ice shelf cavity into McMurdo Sound.

  10. Modelling water flow under glaciers and ice sheets.

    PubMed

    Flowers, Gwenn E

    2015-04-08

    Recent observations of dynamic water systems beneath the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have sparked renewed interest in modelling subglacial drainage. The foundations of today's models were laid decades ago, inspired by measurements from mountain glaciers, discovery of the modern ice streams and the study of landscapes evacuated by former ice sheets. Models have progressed from strict adherence to the principles of groundwater flow, to the incorporation of flow 'elements' specific to the subglacial environment, to sophisticated two-dimensional representations of interacting distributed and channelized drainage. Although presently in a state of rapid development, subglacial drainage models, when coupled to models of ice flow, are now able to reproduce many of the canonical phenomena that characterize this coupled system. Model calibration remains generally out of reach, whereas widespread application of these models to large problems and real geometries awaits the next level of development.

  11. Modelling water flow under glaciers and ice sheets

    PubMed Central

    Flowers, Gwenn E.

    2015-01-01

    Recent observations of dynamic water systems beneath the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have sparked renewed interest in modelling subglacial drainage. The foundations of today's models were laid decades ago, inspired by measurements from mountain glaciers, discovery of the modern ice streams and the study of landscapes evacuated by former ice sheets. Models have progressed from strict adherence to the principles of groundwater flow, to the incorporation of flow ‘elements’ specific to the subglacial environment, to sophisticated two-dimensional representations of interacting distributed and channelized drainage. Although presently in a state of rapid development, subglacial drainage models, when coupled to models of ice flow, are now able to reproduce many of the canonical phenomena that characterize this coupled system. Model calibration remains generally out of reach, whereas widespread application of these models to large problems and real geometries awaits the next level of development. PMID:27547082

  12. The Effects of Salt Water on Mechanical Properties of Glacial Ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holt, R. A.; McCarthy, C.

    2017-12-01

    An improved understanding of the mechanical properties of glacial ice, including factors that may change them, is essential for understanding vulnerability of ice sheets to climate change. It is understood that the temperature of intruding subglacial seawater affects the melting of glacial ice and therefore destabilizes ice shelves, but we hypothesize that seawater bathing the bottom of the glacier may also influence mechanical properties such as friction and elastic modulus. We undertook experiments to determine how the presence of saline solution at grain boundaries of ice might lead to weaker behavior. We created an ice sample by finely grinding and sieving seed ice, pressing it into a rectangular mold, and flooding with a 3.5wt% saline solution. We then quickly brought it to subsolidus (-22°) to completely freeze. The bulk composition of the sample was determined by refractive index to be 0.28wt%. Microstructural characterization of the sample indicates that, above the solidus, the melt phase was located at grain triple junctions and along grain boundaries. To test the frictional behavior of ice with saline sliding against rock, we used a cryo-biaxial apparatus designed to simulate the basal sliding of glacial ice. The experiments were run in the double direct configuration at 100 KPa normal stress and at T=-5°. The results demonstrate that ice containing a liquid saline solution has lower steady state friction than pure ice at the same conditions, and therefore can slip at a faster velocity. In addition to the bi-axial experiment we determined the elastic properties using an ultrasonic velocity testing system. P waves velocities through the saline ice sample were consistent with published values (Spencer et al., 1968, JGR). We also used both measured and estimated values to calculate the Young's modulus. We found that ice containing salt water has a lower Young's modulus than that of pure ice. Salt water significantly changes the mechanical properties of

  13. When ice meets water: Sub-aqueous melt and its relevance in various settings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Truffer, M.; Motyka, R. J.

    2014-12-01

    The largest glacier changes are primarily observed in settings where ice flows into a proglacial water body. However, the responses to this interaction are not uniform. Rapidly retreating glaciers can occur in close vicinity to advancing ones. Calving styles and glacier morphologies vary greatly as well. Temperate lake-calving glaciers frequently exhibit floating tongues; but this is rarely observed on temperate tidewater glaciers. Calving styles range from mostly sub-aerial calving to full-thickness calving to slow detachment of large ice bergs. In addition to the more obvious mechanical calving, glaciers lose mass at their termini through sub-aqueous melting. Melt rates of submerged ice have been shown to vary over several orders of magnitudes, and can range up to several meters per day. This large range is a consequence of different proglacial water temperatures, and of different modes of water transport. Water convection in proglacial water bodies can be driven by winds and tides, but subglacial water discharge is commonly the strongest and most variable driver. Here we attempt to relate the variability of forcings and melt rates to the various morphologies and calving styles of different water-terminating glaciers. The highest melt rates are observed at low-latitude tidewater glaciers, where ocean water can be warm (7 - 10 deg C) and subglacial discharge high. In such settings, sub-aqueous melt can reach the same magnitude as ice flux delivered to the terminus and it can control ice terminus position. Polar tidewater glaciers, such as those in Greenland, often exhibit floating tongues. Although melt rates are likely much lower, they can have a large effect under a floating tongue because of the much larger exposure of ice to water. Changes in melt rates can therefore affect the stability of such floating tongues. Low melt rates occur at some ice shelves at high latitudes, where the temperature and freshwater forcings are small. This situation can also occur at

  14. Do pelagic grazers benefit from sea ice? Insights from the Antarctic sea ice proxy IPSO25

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmidt, Katrin; Brown, Thomas A.; Belt, Simon T.; Ireland, Louise C.; Taylor, Kyle W. R.; Thorpe, Sally E.; Ward, Peter; Atkinson, Angus

    2018-04-01

    Sea ice affects primary production in polar regions in multiple ways. It can dampen water column productivity by reducing light or nutrient supply, provide a habitat for ice algae and condition the marginal ice zone (MIZ) for phytoplankton blooms on its seasonal retreat. The relative importance of three different carbon sources (sea ice derived, sea ice conditioned, non-sea-ice associated) for the polar food web is not well understood, partly due to the lack of methods that enable their unambiguous distinction. Here we analysed two highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) biomarkers to trace sea-ice-derived and sea-ice-conditioned carbon in Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and relate their concentrations to the grazers' body reserves, growth and recruitment. During our sampling in January-February 2003, the proxy for sea ice diatoms (a di-unsaturated HBI termed IPSO25, δ13C = -12.5 ± 3.3 ‰) occurred in open waters of the western Scotia Sea, where seasonal ice retreat was slow. In suspended matter from surface waters, IPSO25 was present at a few stations close to the ice edge, but in krill the marker was widespread. Even at stations that had been ice-free for several weeks, IPSO25 was found in krill stomachs, suggesting that they gathered the ice-derived algae from below the upper mixed layer. Peak abundances of the proxy for MIZ diatoms (a tri-unsaturated HBI termed HBI III, δ13C = -42.2 ± 2.4 ‰) occurred in regions of fast sea ice retreat and persistent salinity-driven stratification in the eastern Scotia Sea. Krill sampled in the area defined by the ice edge bloom likewise contained high amounts of HBI III. As indicators for the grazer's performance we used the mass-length ratio, size of digestive gland and growth rate for krill, and recruitment for the biomass-dominant calanoid copepods Calanoides acutus and Calanus propinquus. These indices consistently point to blooms in the MIZ as an important feeding ground for pelagic grazers. Even though ice

  15. Sink or Swim: Ions and Organics at the Ice-Air Interface.

    PubMed

    Hudait, Arpa; Allen, Michael T; Molinero, Valeria

    2017-07-26

    The ice-air interface is an important locus of environmental chemical reactions. The structure and dynamics of the ice surface impact the uptake of trace gases and kinetics of reactions in the atmosphere and snowpack. At tropospheric temperatures, the ice surface is partially premelted. Experiments indicate that ions increase the liquidity of the ice surface but hydrophilic organics do not. However, it is not yet known the extent of the perturbation solutes induce at the ice surface and what is the role of the disordered liquid-like layer in modulating the interaction between solutes and their mobility and aggregation at the ice surface. Here we use large-scale molecular simulations to investigate the effect of ions and glyoxal, one of the most abundant oxygenated volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere, on the structure, dynamics, and solvation properties of the ice surface. We find that the premelted surface of ice has unique solvation properties, different from those of liquid water. The increase in surface liquidity resulting from the hydration of ions leads to a water-mediated attraction of ions at the ice surface. Glyoxal molecules, on the other hand, perturb only slightly the surface of ice and do not experience water-driven attraction. They nonetheless accumulate as dry agglomerates at the ice surface, driven by direct interactions between the organic molecules. The enhanced attraction and clustering of ions and organics at the ice surface may play a significant role in modulating the mechanism and rate of heterogeneous chemical reactions occurring at the surface of atmospheric ice particles.

  16. The Backscatter Cloudprobe with Polarization Detection: A New Aircraft Ice Water Detector

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Freer, M.; Baumgardner, D.; Axisa, D.

    2017-12-01

    The differentiation of liquid water and ice crystals smaller than 100 um in mixed phase clouds continues to challenge the cloud measurement community. In situ imaging probes now have pixel resolution down to about 5 um, but at least 10 pixels are needed to accurately distinguish a water droplet from an ice crystal. This presents a major obstacle for the understanding of cloud glaciation in general, and the formation and evolution of cloud ice in particular. A new sensor has recently been developed that can detect and quantify supercooled liquid droplets and ice crystals. The Backscatter Cloudprobe with Polarization Detection (BCPD) is a very lightweight, compact and low power optical spectrometer that has already undergone laboratory, wind tunnel and flight tests that have validated its capabilities. The BCPD employs the optical approach with single particles that has been used for years in remote sensing to distinguish liquid water from ice crystals in ensembles of cloud particles. The sensor is mounted inside an aircraft and projects a linearly polarized laser beam to the outside through a heated window. Particles that pass through the sample volume of the laser scatter light and the photons scattered in the back direction pass through another heated window where they are collected and focused onto a beam splitter that directs them onto two photodetectors. The P-detector senses the light with polarization parallel to that of the incident light and the S-Detector measures the light that is perpendicular to that of the laser. The polarization ratio, S/P, is sensitive to the asphericity of a particle and is used to identify liquid water and ice crystals. The BCPD has now been exercised in an icing wind tunnel where it was compared with other cloud spectrometers. It has also been flown on the NCAR C-130 and on a commercial Citation, making measurements in all water, all ice and mixed phase clouds. Results from these three applications clearly show that the BCPD can

  17. Global view of sea-ice production in polynyas and its linkage to dense/bottom water formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ohshima, Kay I.; Nihashi, Sohey; Iwamoto, Katsushi

    2016-12-01

    Global overturning circulation is driven by density differences. Saline water rejected during sea-ice formation in polynyas is the main source of dense water, and thus sea-ice production is a key factor in the overturning circulation. Due to difficulties associated with in situ observation, sea-ice production and its interannual variability have not been well understood until recently. Methods to estimate sea-ice production on large scales have been developed using heat flux calculations based on satellite microwave radiometer data. Using these methods, we present the mapping of sea-ice production with the same definition and scale globally, and review the polynya ice production and its relationship with dense/bottom water. The mapping demonstrates that ice production rate is high in Antarctic coastal polynyas, in contrast to Arctic coastal polynyas. This is consistent with the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), the densest water mass which occupies the abyssal layer of the global ocean. The Ross Ice Shelf polynya has by far the highest ice production in the Southern Hemisphere. The Cape Darnley polynya (65°E-69°E) is found to be the second highest production area and recent observations revealed that this is the missing (fourth) source of AABW. In the region off the Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT), the third source of AABW, sea-ice production decreased by as much as 40 %, due to the MGT calving in early 2010, resulting in a significant decrease in AABW production. The Okhotsk Northwestern polynya exhibits the highest ice production in the Northern Hemisphere, and the resultant dense water formation leads to overturning in the North Pacific, extending to the intermediate layer. Estimates of its ice production show a significant decrease over the past 30-50 years, likely causing the weakening of the North Pacific overturning. These regions demonstrate the strong linkage between variabilities of sea-ice production and bottom/intermediate water formation. The

  18. The decisive role of free water in determining homogenous ice nucleation behavior of aqueous solutions

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Qiang; Zhao, Lishan; Li, Chenxi; Cao, Zexian

    2016-01-01

    It is a challenging issue to quantitatively characterize how the solute and pressure affect the homogeneous ice nucleation in a supercooled solution. By measuring the glass transition behavior of solutions, a universal feature of water-content dependence of glass transition temperature is recognized, which can be used to quantify hydration water in solutions. The amount of free water can then be determined for water-rich solutions, whose mass fraction, Xf, is found to serve as a universal relevant parameter for characterizing the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature, the meting temperature of primary ice, and even the water activity of solutions of electrolytes and smaller organic molecules. Moreover, the effects of hydrated solute and pressure on ice nucleation is comparable, and the pressure, when properly scaled, can be incorporated into the universal parameter Xf. These results help establish the decisive role of free water in determining ice nucleation and other relevant properties of aqueous solutions. PMID:27225427

  19. Laboratory Investigation of Direct Measurement of Ice Water Content, Ice Surface Area, and Effective Radius of Ice Crystals Using a Laser-Diffraction Instrument

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gerber, H.; DeMott, P. J.; Rogers, D. C.

    1995-01-01

    The aircraft microphysics probe, PVM-100A, was tested in the Colorado State University dynamic cloud chamber to establish its ability to measure ice water content (IWC), PSA, and Re in ice clouds. Its response was compared to other means of measuring those ice-cloud parameters that included using FSSP-100 and 230-X 1-D optical probes for ice-crystal concentrations, a film-loop microscope for ice-crystal habits and dimensions, and an in-situ microscope for determining ice-crystal orientation. Intercomparisons were made in ice clouds containing ice crystals ranging in size from about 10 microns to 150 microns diameter, and ice crystals with plate, columnar, dendritic, and spherical shapes. It was not possible to determine conclusively that the PVM accurately measures IWC, PSA, and Re of ice crystals, because heat from the PVM evaporated in part the crystals in its vicinity in the chamber thus affecting its measurements. Similarities in the operating principle of the FSSP and PVM, and a comparison between Re measured by both instruments, suggest, however, that the PVM can make those measurements. The resolution limit of the PVM for IWC measurements was found to be on the order of 0.001 g/cubic m. Algorithms for correcting IWC measured by FSSP and PVM were developed.

  20. Study on bouncing motion of a water drop collision on superhydrophobic surface under icing conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maeda, Tetsuro; Morita, Katsuaki; Kimura, Shigeo

    2017-11-01

    When micro droplets in the air are supercooled and collide with the object, they froze on the surface at the time of a collision and can be defined as icing. If supercooled water droplets collide with an airfoil of an aircraft in flight and shape changes, there is a danger of losing lift and falling. Recently, the ice protection system using a heater and Anti- / Deicing (superhydrophobic) coating is focused. In this system, colliding water droplets are melted by the heat of the heater at the tip of the blade, and the water droplet is bounced by the aerodynamic force on the rear superhydrophobic coating. Thus, it prevents the phenomenon of icing again at the back of the wing (runback ice). Therefore, it is possible to suppress power consumption of the electric heater. In that system, it is important to withdraw water droplets at an extremely superhydrophobic surface at an early stage. However, research on bouncing phenomenon on superhydrophobic surface under icing conditions are not done much now. Therefore, in our research, we focus on one drop supercooled water droplet that collides with the superhydrophobic surface in the icing phenomenon, and aim to follow that phenomenon. In this report, the contact time is defined as the time from collision of a water droplet to bouncing from the superhydrophobic surface, and various parameters (temperature, speed, and diameter) on water droplets under icing conditions are set as the water drop bouncing time (contact time) of the product.

  1. Onset of ice VII phase during ps laser pulse propagation through liquid water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, V. Rakesh; Kiran, P. Prem

    2017-01-01

    Water dominantly present in liquid state on earth gets transformed to crystalline polymorphs under different dynamic loading conditions. Out of different crystalline phases discovered till date, ice VII is observed to be stable over wide pressure (2-63 GPa) and temperature (>273 K) ranges. The formation of ice VII crystalline structure has been vastly reported during high pressure static compression using diamond anvil cell and propagation of high energy (>50 mJ/pulse) nanosecond laser pulse induced dynamic high pressures through liquid water. We present the onset of ice VII phase at low threshold of 2 mJ/pulse during 30 ps (532 nm, 10 Hz) laser pulse induced shock propagating through liquid water. Role of input pulse energy on the evolution of Stoke's and anti-Stoke's Raman shift of the dominant A1g mode of ice VII, filamentation, free-electrons, plasma shielding is presented. The H-bond network rearrangement, electron ion energy transfer time coinciding with the excitation pulse duration supported by the filamentation and plasma shielding of the ps laser pulses reduced the threshold of ice VII structure formation. Filamentation and the plasma shielding have shown the localized creation and sustenance of ice VII structure in liquid water over 3 mm length and 50 μm area of cross-section.

  2. Do Europa's Mountains Have Roots? Modeling Flow Along the Ice-Water Interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cutler, B. B.; Goodman, J. C.

    2016-12-01

    Are topographic features on the surface of Europa and other icy worlds isostatically compensated by variations in shell thickness (Airy isostasy)? This is only possible if variations in shell thickness can remain stable over geologic time. In this work we demonstrate that local shell thickness perturbations will relax due to viscous flow in centuries. We present a model of Europa's ice crust which includes thermal conduction, viscous flow of ice, and a mobile ice/water interface: the topography along the ice-water interface varies in response to melting, freezing, and ice flow. Temperature-dependent viscosity, conductivity, and density lead to glacier-like flow along the base of the ice shell, as well as solid-state convection in its interior. We considered both small scale processes, such as an isostatically-compensated ridge or lenticula, or heat flux from a hydrothermal plume; and a larger model focusing on melting and flow on the global scale. Our local model shows that ice-basal topographic features 5 kilometers deep and 4 kilometers wide can be filled in by glacial flow in about 200 years; even very large cavities can be infilled in 1000 years. "Hills" (locally thick areas) are removed faster than "holes". If a strong local heat flux (10x global average) is applied to the base of the ice, local melting will be prevented by rapid inflow of ice from nearby. On the large scale, global ice flow from the thick cool pole to the warmer and thinner equator removes global-scale topography in about 1 Ma; melting and freezing from this process may lead to a coupled feedback with the ocean flow. We find that glacial flow at the base of the ice shell is so rapid that Europa's ice-water interface is likely to be very flat. Local surface topography probably cannot be isostatically compensated by thickness variations: Europa's mountains may have no roots.

  3. Satellite altimetry in sea ice regions - detecting open water for estimating sea surface heights

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Müller, Felix L.; Dettmering, Denise; Bosch, Wolfgang

    2017-04-01

    The Greenland Sea and the Farm Strait are transporting sea ice from the central Arctic ocean southwards. They are covered by a dynamic changing sea ice layer with significant influences on the Earth climate system. Between the sea ice there exist various sized open water areas known as leads, straight lined open water areas, and polynyas exhibiting a circular shape. Identifying these leads by satellite altimetry enables the extraction of sea surface height information. Analyzing the radar echoes, also called waveforms, provides information on the surface backscatter characteristics. For example waveforms reflected by calm water have a very narrow and single-peaked shape. Waveforms reflected by sea ice show more variability due to diffuse scattering. Here we analyze altimeter waveforms from different conventional pulse-limited satellite altimeters to separate open water and sea ice waveforms. An unsupervised classification approach employing partitional clustering algorithms such as K-medoids and memory-based classification methods such as K-nearest neighbor is used. The classification is based on six parameters derived from the waveform's shape, for example the maximum power or the peak's width. The open-water detection is quantitatively compared to SAR images processed while accounting for sea ice motion. The classification results are used to derive information about the temporal evolution of sea ice extent and sea surface heights. They allow to provide evidence on climate change relevant influences as for example Arctic sea level rise due to enhanced melting rates of Greenland's glaciers and an increasing fresh water influx into the Arctic ocean. Additionally, the sea ice cover extent analyzed over a long-time period provides an important indicator for a globally changing climate system.

  4. Ground penetrating radar detection of subsnow slush on ice-covered lakes in interior Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gusmeroli, A.; Grosse, G.

    2012-12-01

    Lakes are abundant throughout the pan-Arctic region. For many of these lakes ice cover lasts for up to two thirds of the year. The frozen cover allows human access to these lakes, which are therefore used for many subsistence and recreational activities, including water harvesting, fishing, and skiing. Safe traveling condition onto lakes may be compromised, however, when, after significant snowfall, the weight of the snow acts on the ice and causes liquid water to spill through weak spots and overflow at the snow-ice interface. Since visual detection of subsnow slush is almost impossible our understanding on overflow processes is still very limited and geophysical methods that allow water and slush detection are desirable. In this study we demonstrate that a commercially available, lightweight 1 GHz, ground penetrating radar system can detect and map extent and intensity of overflow. The strength of radar reflections from wet snow-ice interfaces are at least twice as much in strength than returns from dry snow-ice interface. The presence of overflow also affects the quality of radar returns from the base of the lake ice. During dry conditions we were able to profile ice thickness of up to 1 m, conversely, we did not retrieve any ice-water returns in areas affected by overflow.

  5. Water ice clouds observations with PFS on Mars Express

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moroz, V. I.; Zasova, L. V.; Formisano, V.; Grassi, D.; Ignatiev, N. I.; Giuranna, M.; Maturilli, A.; Pfs Team

    The water ice cloud observation is one of the scientific goals of PFS. Presence and properties of the ice particles are identified from absorption features, observed in both spectral ranges of PFS. Being in the near perihelion condition, the temperature of the Martian atmosphere is pretty high and ice clouds exist only in some places, for example, related to topography or at north high latitudes et etc. The ice clouds are observed often above the tops of the volcanoes. We have found the ice clouds above Olympus (orbit 37) and Ascraeus Mons (orbit 68). Effective radius of particles according to the thermal IR is preliminary estimated of 1 μ m, which leads to the visual opacity of 0.2 -0.3 above Olympus and of maximum of 0.6 above Ascraeus Mons. In the case of Ascraeus Mons the ice clouds are observed on the south slope near the top of the volcano. The maximum surface temperature, observed there, results in the upward flux of warm air, which, cooling, provides the condensation of H2O. We will present a detailed analysis of the ice clouds, observed over the planet in the IR spectral range.

  6. Liquid water content and droplet size calibration of the NASA Lewis Icing Research Tunnel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ide, Robert F.

    1989-01-01

    The icing research tunnel at the NASA Lewis Research Center underwent a major rehabilitation in 1986 to 1987, necessitating recalibration of the icing cloud. The methods used in the recalibration, including the procedure used to establish a uniform icing cloud and the use of a standard icing blade technique for measurement of liquid water content are described. PMS Forward Scattering Spectrometer and Optical Array probes were used for measurement of droplet size. Examples of droplet size distributions are shown for several median volumetric diameters. Finally, the liquid water content/droplet size operating envelopes of the icing tunnel are shown for a range of airspeeds and are compared to the FAA icing certification criteria.

  7. Direct Measurement of Water States in Cryopreserved Cells Reveals Tolerance toward Ice Crystallization

    PubMed Central

    Huebinger, Jan; Han, Hong-Mei; Hofnagel, Oliver; Vetter, Ingrid R.; Bastiaens, Philippe I.H.; Grabenbauer, Markus

    2016-01-01

    Complex living systems such as mammalian cells can be arrested in a solid phase by ultrarapid cooling. This allows for precise observation of cellular structures as well as cryopreservation of cells. The state of water, the main constituent of biological samples, is crucial for the success of cryogenic applications. Water exhibits many different solid states. If it is cooled extremely rapidly, liquid water turns into amorphous ice, also called vitreous water, a glassy and amorphous solid. For cryo-preservation, the vitrification of cells is believed to be mandatory for cell survival after freezing. Intracellular ice crystallization is assumed to be lethal, but experimental data on the state of water during cryopreservation are lacking. To better understand the water conditions in cells subjected to freezing protocols, we chose to directly analyze their subcellular water states by cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, cryoelectron diffraction, and x-ray diffraction both in the cryofixed state and after warming to different temperatures. By correlating the survival rates of cells with their respective water states during cryopreservation, we found that survival is less dependent on ice-crystal formation than expected. Using high-resolution cryo-imaging, we were able to directly show that cells tolerate crystallization of extra- and intracellular water. However, if warming is too slow, many small ice crystals will recrystallize into fewer but bigger crystals, which is lethal. The applied cryoprotective agents determine which crystal size is tolerable. This suggests that cryoprotectants can act by inhibiting crystallization or recrystallization, but they also increase the tolerance toward ice-crystal growth. PMID:26541066

  8. The role of ice dynamics in shaping vegetation in flowing waters.

    PubMed

    Lind, Lovisa; Nilsson, Christer; Polvi, Lina E; Weber, Christine

    2014-11-01

    Ice dynamics is an important factor affecting vegetation in high-altitude and high-latitude streams and rivers. During the last few decades, knowledge about ice in streams and rivers has increased significantly and a respectable body of literature is now available. Here we review the literature on how ice dynamics influence riparian and aquatic vegetation. Traditionally, plant ecologists have focused their studies on the summer period, largely ignoring the fact that processes during winter also impact vegetation dynamics. For example, the freeze-up period in early winter may result in extensive formation of underwater ice that can restructure the channel, obstruct flow, and cause flooding and thus formation of more ice. In midwinter, slow-flowing reaches develop a surface-ice cover that accumulates snow, protecting habitats under the ice from formation of underwater ice but also reducing underwater light, thus suppressing photosynthesis. Towards the end of winter, ice breaks up and moves downstream. During this transport, ice floes can jam up and cause floods and major erosion. The magnitudes of the floods and their erosive power mainly depend on the size of the watercourse, also resulting in different degrees of disturbance to the vegetation. Vegetation responds both physically and physiologically to ice dynamics. Physical action involves the erosive force of moving ice and damage caused by ground frost, whereas physiological effects - mostly cell damage - happen as a result of plants freezing into the ice. On a community level, large magnitudes of ice dynamics seem to favour species richness, but can be detrimental for individual plants. Human impacts, such as flow regulation, channelisation, agriculturalisation and water pollution have modified ice dynamics; further changes are expected as a result of current and predicted future climate change. Human impacts and climate change can both favour and disfavour riverine vegetation dynamics. Restoration of streams

  9. Snow-borne nanosized particles: Abundance, distribution, composition, and significance in ice nucleation processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rangel-Alvarado, Rodrigo Benjamin; Nazarenko, Yevgen; Ariya, Parisa A.

    2015-11-01

    Physicochemical processes of nucleation constitute a major uncertainty in understanding aerosol-cloud interactions. To improve the knowledge of the ice nucleation process, we characterized physical, chemical, and biological properties of fresh snow using a suite of state-of-the-art techniques based on mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, chromatography, and optical particle sizing. Samples were collected at two North American Arctic sites, as part of international campaigns (2006 and 2009), and in the city of Montreal, Canada, over the last decade. Particle size distribution analyses, in the range of 3 nm to 10 µm, showed that nanosized particles are the most numerous (38-71%) in fresh snow, with a significant portion (11 to 19%) less than 100 nm in size. Particles with diameters less than 200 nm consistently exhibited relatively high ice-nucleating properties (on average ranged from -19.6 ± 2.4 to -8.1 ± 2.6°C). Chemical analysis of the nanosized fraction suggests that they contain bioorganic materials, such as amino acids, as well as inorganic compounds with similar characteristics to mineral dust. The implication of nanoparticle ubiquity and abundance in diverse snow ecosystems are discussed in the context of their importance in understanding atmospheric nucleation processes.

  10. Widespread Refreezing of Both Surface and Basal Melt Water Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bell, R. E.; Tinto, K. J.; Das, I.; Wolovick, M.; Chu, W.; Creyts, T. T.; Frearson, N.

    2013-12-01

    The isotopically and chemically distinct, bubble-free ice observed along the Greenland Ice Sheet margin both in the Russell Glacier and north of Jacobshavn must have formed when water froze from subglacial networks. Where this refreezing occurs and what impact it has on ice sheet processes remain unclear. We use airborne radar data to demonstrate that freeze-on to the ice sheet base and associated deformation produce large ice units up to 700 m thick throughout northern Greenland. Along the ice sheet margin, in the ablation zone, surface meltwater, delivered via moulins, refreezes to the ice sheet base over rugged topography. In the interior, water melted from the ice sheet base is refrozen and surrounded by folded ice. A significant fraction of the ice sheet is modified by basal freeze-on and associated deformation. For the Eqip and Petermann catchments, representing the ice sheet margin and interior respectively, extensive airborne radar datasets show that 10%-13% of the base of the ice sheet and up to a third of the catchment width is modified by basal freeze-on. The interior units develop over relatively subdued topography with modest water flux from basal melt where conductive cooling likely dominates. Steps in the bed topography associated with subglacial valley networks may foster glaciohydraulic supercooling. The ablation zone units develop where both surface melt and crevassing are widespread and large volumes of surface meltwater will reach the base of the ice sheet. The relatively steep topography at the upslope edge of the ablation zone units combined with the larger water flux suggests that supercooling plays a greater role in their formation. The ice qualities of the ablation zone units should reflect the relatively fresh surface melt whereas the chemistry of the interior units should reflect solute-rich basal melt. Changes in basal conditions such as the presence of till patches may contribute to the formation of the large basal units near the

  11. Implications of abundant hygroscopic minerals in the Martian regolith

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clark, B. C.

    1978-01-01

    Converging lines of evidence suggest that a significant portion of the Martian surface fines may consist of salts and smectite clays. Salts can form stoichiometric hydrates as well as eutectic solutions with depressed freezing points; clays contain bound water of constitution and adsorb significant quantities of water from the vapor phase. The formation of ice may be suppressed by these minerals in some regions on Mars, and their presence in abundance would imply important consequences for atmospheric and geologic processes and the prospects for exobiology.

  12. Measurement of the accumulation of water ice on optical components in cryogenic vacuum environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moeller, Trevor M.; Montgomery Smith, L.; Collins, Frank G.; Labello, Jesse M.; Rogers, James P.; Lowry, Heard S.; Crider, Dustin H.

    2012-11-01

    Standard vacuum practices mitigate the presence of water vapor and contamination inside cryogenic vacuum chambers. However, anomalies can occur in the facility that can cause the accumulation of amorphous water ice on optics and test articles. Under certain conditions, the amorphous ice on optical components shatters, which leads to a reduction in signal or failure of the component. An experiment was performed to study and measure the deposition of water (H2O) ice on optical surfaces under high-vacuum cryogenic conditions. Water was introduced into a cryogenic vacuum chamber, via a hydrated molecular sieve zeolite, through an effusion cell and impinged upon a quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) and first-surface gold-plated mirror. A laser and photodiode setup, external to the vacuum chamber, monitored the multiple-beam interference reflectance of the ice-mirror configuration while the QCM measured the mass deposition. Data indicates that water ice, under these conditions, accumulates as a thin film on optical surfaces to thicknesses over 45 microns and can be detected and measured by nonintrusive optical methods which are based upon multiple-beam interference phenomena. The QCM validated the interference measurements. This experiment established proof-of-concept for a miniature system for monitoring ice accumulation within the chamber.

  13. Molecular Probe Dynamics Reveals Suppression of Ice-Like Regions in Strongly Confined Supercooled Water

    PubMed Central

    Banerjee, Debamalya; Bhat, Shrivalli N.; Bhat, Subray V.; Leporini, Dino

    2012-01-01

    The structure of the hydrogen bond network is a key element for understanding water's thermodynamic and kinetic anomalies. While ambient water is strongly believed to be a uniform, continuous hydrogen-bonded liquid, there is growing consensus that supercooled water is better described in terms of distinct domains with either a low-density ice-like structure or a high-density disordered one. We evidenced two distinct rotational mobilities of probe molecules in interstitial supercooled water of polycrystalline ice [Banerjee D, et al. (2009) ESR evidence for 2 coexisting liquid phases in deeply supercooled bulk water. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106: 11448–11453]. Here we show that, by increasing the confinement of interstitial water, the mobility of probe molecules, surprisingly, increases. We argue that loose confinement allows the presence of ice-like regions in supercooled water, whereas a tighter confinement yields the suppression of this ordered fraction and leads to higher fluidity. Compelling evidence of the presence of ice-like regions is provided by the probe orientational entropy barrier which is set, through hydrogen bonding, by the configuration of the surrounding water molecules and yields a direct measure of the configurational entropy of the same. We find that, under loose confinement of supercooled water, the entropy barrier surmounted by the slower probe fraction exceeds that of equilibrium water by the melting entropy of ice, whereas no increase of the barrier is observed under stronger confinement. The lower limit of metastability of supercooled water is discussed. PMID:23049747

  14. Ultraviolet spectrophotometry of comet Giacobini-Zinner during the ICE encounter. [International Cometary Explorer (ICE)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ahearn, Michael F.; Mcfadden, Lucy A.; Feldman, Paul D.; Boehnhardt, Hermann; Rahe, Juergen; Festou, Michael; Brandt, John C.; Maran, Stephen P.; Niedner, Malcom B.; Smith, Andrew M.

    1986-01-01

    The IUE spectrophotometry of Comet P/Giacobini-Zinner was acquired in support of the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) mission. The abundances (or upper limits) of UV-active species were calculated. During the ICE encounter the H2O production rate was 3 times 10 to the 28th power/sec, + or - 50%, consistent with values derived from the ICE experiments. Comparison of the abundance of CO2(+) ions with the total electron density measured by the plasma electron experiment on ICE indicates a deficiency of ions relative to electrons indicating a population of ions not detected by remote sensing. The absence of detectable Mg(+) rules out this species as a possible ion of M/Q = 24 detected by the Ion Composition Instrument, part of the ICE complement of instruments.

  15. Effects of Atmospheric Water and Surface Wind on Passive Microwave Retrievals of Sea Ice Concentration: a Simulation Study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shin, D.; Chiu, L. S.; Clemente-Colon, P.

    2006-05-01

    The atmospheric effects on the retrieval of sea ice concentration from passive microwave sensors are examined using simulated data typical for the Arctic summer. The simulation includes atmospheric contributions of cloud liquid water, water vapor and surface wind on the microwave signatures. A plane parallel radiative transfer model is used to compute brightness temperatures at SSM/I frequencies over surfaces that contain open water, first-year (FY) ice and multi-year (MY) ice and their combinations. Synthetic retrievals in this study use the NASA Team (NT) algorithm for the estimation of sea ice concentrations. This study shows that if the satellite sensor's field of view is filled with only FY ice the retrieval is not much affected by the atmospheric conditions due to the high contrast between emission signals from FY ice surface and the signals from the atmosphere. Pure MY ice concentration is generally underestimated due to the low MY ice surface emissivity that results in the enhancement of emission signals from the atmospheric parameters. Simulation results in marginal ice areas also show that the atmospheric effects from cloud liquid water, water vapor and surface wind tend to degrade the accuracy at low sea ice concentration. FY ice concentration is overestimated and MY ice concentration is underestimated in the presence of atmospheric water and surface wind at low ice concentration. This compensating effect reduces the retrieval uncertainties of total (FY and MY) ice concentration. Over marginal ice zones, our results suggest that strong surface wind is more important than atmospheric water in contributing to the retrieval errors of total ice concentrations in the normal ranges of these variables.

  16. Monitoring waterbird abundance in wetlands: The importance of controlling results for variation in water depth

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bolduc, F.; Afton, A.D.

    2008-01-01

    Wetland use by waterbirds is highly dependent on water depth, and depth requirements generally vary among species. Furthermore, water depth within wetlands often varies greatly over time due to unpredictable hydrological events, making comparisons of waterbird abundance among wetlands difficult as effects of habitat variables and water depth are confounded. Species-specific relationships between bird abundance and water depth necessarily are non-linear; thus, we developed a methodology to correct waterbird abundance for variation in water depth, based on the non-parametric regression of these two variables. Accordingly, we used the difference between observed and predicted abundances from non-parametric regression (analogous to parametric residuals) as an estimate of bird abundance at equivalent water depths. We scaled this difference to levels of observed and predicted abundances using the formula: ((observed - predicted abundance)/(observed + predicted abundance)) ?? 100. This estimate also corresponds to the observed:predicted abundance ratio, which allows easy interpretation of results. We illustrated this methodology using two hypothetical species that differed in water depth and wetland preferences. Comparisons of wetlands, using both observed and relative corrected abundances, indicated that relative corrected abundance adequately separates the effect of water depth from the effect of wetlands. ?? 2008 Elsevier B.V.

  17. Modeling the relationship between water level, wild rice abundance, and waterfowl abundance at a central North American wetland

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Aagaard, Kevin; Eash, Josh D.; Ford, Walt; Heglund, Patricia J.; McDowell, Michelle; Thogmartin, Wayne E.

    2018-01-01

    Recent evidence suggests wild rice (Zizania palustris), an important resource for migrating waterfowl, is declining in parts of central North America, providing motivation to rigorously quantify the relationship between waterfowl and wild rice. A hierarchical mixed-effects model was applied to data on waterfowl abundance for 16 species, wild rice stem density, and two measures of water depth (true water depth at vegetation sampling locations and water surface elevation). Results provide evidence for an effect of true water depth (TWD) on wild rice abundance (posterior mean estimate for TWD coefficient, β TWD = 0.92, 95% confidence interval = 0.11—1.74), but not for an effect of wild rice stem density or water surface elevation on local waterfowl abundance (posterior mean values for relevant parameters overlapped 0). Refined protocols for sampling design and more consistent sampling frequency to increase data quality should be pursued to overcome issues that may have obfuscated relationships evaluated here.

  18. Study of energy parameters of machine parts of water-ice jet cleaning applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prezhbilov, A. N.; Burnashov, M. A.

    2018-03-01

    The reader will achieve a benchmark understanding of the essence of cleaning for the removal of contaminants from machine elements by means of cryo jet/water-ice jet with particles prepared beforehand. This paper represents the classification of the most common contaminants appearing on the surfaces of machine elements after a long-term service. The conceptual contribution of the paper is to represent a thermo-physical model of contaminant removal by means of a water ice jet. In conclusion, it is evident that this study has shown the dependencies between the friction force of an ice particle with an obstacle (contamination), a dimensional change of an ice particle in the cleaning process and the quantity of heat transmitted to an ice particle.

  19. Oxidation stability of ice nuclei from plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Felgitsch, Laura; Häusler, Thomas; Grothe, Hinrich

    2017-04-01

    Heterogeneous ice nucleation is an important process in cloud formation and therefore has direct influence on the radiation budget of the Earth. Biological ice nuclei (IN) are highly abundant in nature. Many plants have been found to produce IN. These IN are of special interest, since several have been found to be in a nano-particular/macromolecular size range (Pummer et al. 2015, Felgitsch et al. 2016). Particles of such a small size should show a high lifespan in the atmosphere. Further the substances can easily be attached to mineral dusts. Very little is known about the atmospheric fate of plant derived ice nuclei (IN) in case they become airborne. While they inherit the possibility to influence ice cloud formation, this property depends highly on the expected lifespan of the substance and of its ice nucleation activity in the atmosphere. For our experiment we exposed plant IN derived from black currant (berry juice) and birch (pollen washing water) to high concentrations of highly oxidative substances typically present in the atmosphere. The exposure lasted several hours and allowed us to monitor the changes in ice nucleation activity. Our results suggest a high stability towards oxidation leading to a high atmospheric life span of the ice nucleation activity if airborne. Pummer, B.G., Budke, C., Augustin-Bauditz, S., Niedermeier, D., Felgitsch, L., Kampf, C.J., Huber, R.G., Liedl, K.R., Loerting, T., Moschen, T., Schauperl, M., Tollinger, M., Morris, C.E., Wex, H., Grothe, H., Pöschl, U., Koop, T., and Fröhlich-Nowoisky, J.: Ice nucleation by water-soluble macromolecules, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 4077-4091, 2015. Felgitsch , L., Bichler, M., Häusler, T., Hitzenberger, R., and Grothe, H.: Heterogeneous freezing of water triggered by berry juices from perenneal plants, submitted, 2016.

  20. First scientific dives of the Nereid Under Ice hybrid ROV in the Arctic Ocean.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    German, C. R.; Boetius, A.; Whitcomb, L. L.; Jakuba, M.; Bailey, J.; Judge, C.; McFarland, C.; Suman, S.; Elliott, S.; Katlein, C.; Arndt, S.; Bowen, A.; Yoerger, D.; Kinsey, J. C.; Mayer, L.; Nicolaus, M.; Laney, S.; Singh, H.; Maksym, T. L.

    2014-12-01

    The first scientific dives of the new Nereid Under Ice (NUI) hybrid ROV were conducted in the Arctic Ocean in July 2014 on RV Polarstern cruise PS86, a German-US collaboration. NUI is the latest in a family of vehicles derived from the Nereus prototype, using a single optical fiber to provide real-time telemetry to and from a battery-powered vehicle allowing much greater lateral maneuverability relative to its support ship than a conventional ROV. During PS86, dives conducted in the Arctic Ocean (typical water depths ~4000m) were completed in >80% ice cover beneath multi-year ice that was typically 2-4m thick (increasing to depths of up to 20m beneath ridges). Dives extended up to 800m away from the ship and, over dive durations of approximately 5 hours each, covered survey tracklines of up to 3.7km at depths varying from "landing" on the underside of the sea-ice to maximum depths of 45m to conduct upward looking multibeam sonar mapping. Ultimately, the vehicle will be capable of both AUV and ROV mode operations at ranges of 10-20km away from the support ship and at up to 2000m water depth (including seafloor as well as under ice operations). During the current cruise, the following major science suites were utilized to prove a range of scientific capabilities of the vehicle in ice-covered oceans: multibeam mapping of rugged topography beneath multi-year sea-ice; video- and digital still photography of the under side of the ice, biota associated with the ice-water interface (algal material) and abundant fauna in the immediately underlying water column (ctenophores, larvaceans, copepods were all notable for their abundance in our study site over the Gakkel Ridge near 83N, 6W). Other scientific activities included: vertical profiles combining CTD data with a suite of biosensors to investigate the structure of primary productivity and biogeochemical cycling in minimally distrubed areas of the sunlit under-ice water column, revealing high stratification associated with

  1. Rapid changes in surface water carbonate chemistry during Antarctic sea ice melt

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jones, Elizabeth M.; Bakker, Dorothee C. E.; Venables, Hugh J.; Whitehouse, Michael J.; Korb, Rebecca E.; Watson, Andrew J.

    2010-11-01

    ABSTRACT The effect of sea ice melt on the carbonate chemistry of surface waters in the Weddell-Scotia Confluence, Southern Ocean, was investigated during January 2008. Contrasting concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity (TA) and the fugacity of carbon dioxide (fCO2) were observed in and around the receding sea ice edge. The precipitation of carbonate minerals such as ikaite (CaCO3.6H2O) in sea ice brine has the net effect of decreasing DIC and TA and increasing the fCO2 in the brine. Deficits in DIC up to 12 +/- 3 μmol kg-1 in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) were consistent with the release of DIC-poor brines to surface waters during sea ice melt. Biological utilization of carbon was the dominant processes and accounted for 41 +/- 1 μmol kg-1 of the summer DIC deficit. The data suggest that the combined effects of biological carbon uptake and the precipitation of carbonates created substantial undersaturation in fCO2 of 95 μatm in the MIZ during summer sea ice melt. Further work is required to improve the understanding of ikaite chemistry in Antarctic sea ice and its importance for the sea ice carbon pump.

  2. Cold compaction of water ice

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durham, W.B.; McKinnon, W.B.; Stern, L.A.

    2005-01-01

    Hydrostatic compaction of granulated water ice was measured in laboratory experiments at temperatures 77 K to 120 K. We performed step-wise hydrostatic pressurization tests on 5 samples to maximum pressures P of 150 MPa, using relatively tight (0.18-0.25 mm) and broad (0.25-2.0 mm) starting grain-size distributions. Compaction change of volume is highly nonlinear in P, typical for brittle, granular materials. No time-dependent creep occurred on the lab time scale. Significant residual porosity (???0.10) remains even at highest P. Examination by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals a random configuration of fractures and broad distribution of grain sizes, again consistent with brittle behavior. Residual porosity appears as smaller, well-supported micropores between ice fragments. Over the interior pressures found in smaller midsize icy satellites and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), substantial porosity can be sustained over solar system history in the absence of significant heating and resultant sintering. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

  3. HiRISE observations of new impact craters exposing Martian ground ice

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Dundas, Colin M.; Byrne, Shane; McEwen, Alfred S.; Mellon, Michael T.; Kennedy, Megan R.; Daubar, Ingrid J.; Saper, Lee

    2014-01-01

    Twenty small new impact craters or clusters have been observed to excavate bright material inferred to be ice at mid and high latitudes on Mars. In the northern hemisphere, the craters are widely distributed geographically and occur at latitudes as low as 39°N. Stability modeling suggests that this ice distribution requires a long-term average atmospheric water vapor content around 25 precipitable microns, more than double the present value, which is consistent with the expected effect of recent orbital variations. Alternatively, near-surface humidity could be higher than expected for current column abundances if water vapor is not well-mixed with atmospheric CO2, or the vapor pressure at the ice table could be lower due to salts. Ice in and around the craters remains visibly bright for months to years, indicating that it is clean ice rather than ice-cemented regolith. Although some clean ice may be produced by the impact process, it is likely that the original ground ice was excess ice (exceeding dry soil pore space) in many cases. Observations of the craters suggest small-scale heterogeneities in this excess ice. The origin of such ice is uncertain. Ice lens formation by migration of thin films of liquid is most consistent with local heterogeneity in ice content and common surface boulders, but in some cases nearby thermokarst landforms suggest large amounts of excess ice that may be best explained by a degraded ice sheet.

  4. Impact of sea-ice melt on dimethyl sulfide (sulfoniopropionate) inventories in surface waters of Marguerite Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula.

    PubMed

    Stefels, Jacqueline; van Leeuwe, Maria A; Jones, Elizabeth M; Meredith, Michael P; Venables, Hugh J; Webb, Alison L; Henley, Sian F

    2018-06-28

    The Southern Ocean is a hotspot of the climate-relevant organic sulfur compound dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Spatial and temporal variability in DMS concentration is higher than in any other oceanic region, especially in the marginal ice zone. During a one-week expedition across the continental shelf of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), from the shelf break into Marguerite Bay, in January 2015, spatial heterogeneity of DMS and its precursor dimethyl sulfoniopropionate (DMSP) was studied and linked with environmental conditions, including sea-ice melt events. Concentrations of sulfur compounds, particulate organic carbon (POC) and chlorophyll a in the surface waters varied by a factor of 5-6 over the entire transect. DMS and DMSP concentrations were an order of magnitude higher than currently inferred in climatologies for the WAP region. Particulate DMSP concentrations were correlated most strongly with POC and the abundance of haptophyte algae within the phytoplankton community, which, in turn, was linked with sea-ice melt. The strong sea-ice signal in the distribution of DMS(P) implies that DMS(P) production is likely to decrease with ongoing reductions in sea-ice cover along the WAP. This has implications for feedback processes on the region's climate system.This article is part of the theme issue 'The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress in a region of rapid change'. © 2018 The Author(s).

  5. Incorporation of New Convective Ice Microphysics into the NASA GISS GCM and Impacts on Cloud Ice Water Path (IWP) Simulation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Elsaesser, Greg; Del Genio, Anthony

    2015-01-01

    The CMIP5 configurations of the GISS Model-E2 GCM simulated a mid- and high latitude ice IWP that decreased by 50 relative to that simulated for CMIP3 (Jiang et al. 2012; JGR). Tropical IWP increased by 15 in CMIP5. While the tropical IWP was still within the published upper-bounds of IWP uncertainty derived using NASA A-Train satellite observations, it was found that the upper troposphere (200 mb) ice water content (IWC) exceeded the published upper-bound by a factor of 2. This was largely driven by IWC in deep-convecting regions of the tropics.Recent advances in the model-E2 convective parameterization have been found to have a substantial impact on tropical IWC. These advances include the development of both a cold pool parameterization (Del Genio et al. 2015) and new convective ice parameterization. In this presentation, we focus on the new parameterization of convective cloud ice that was developed using data from the NASA TC4 Mission. Ice particle terminal velocity formulations now include information from a number of NASA field campaigns. The new parameterization predicts both an ice water mass weighted-average particle diameter and a particle cross sectional area weighted-average size diameter as a function of temperature and ice water content. By assuming a gamma-distribution functional form for the particle size distribution, these two diameter estimates are all that are needed to explicitly predict the distribution of ice particles as a function of particle diameter.GCM simulations with the improved convective parameterization yield a 50 decrease in upper tropospheric IWC, bringing the tropical and global mean IWP climatologies into even closer agreement with the A-Train satellite observation best estimates.

  6. Incorporation of New Convective Ice Microphysics into the NASA GISS GCM and Impacts on Cloud Ice Water Path (IWP) Simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Elsaesser, G.; Del Genio, A. D.

    2015-12-01

    The CMIP5 configurations of the GISS Model-E2 GCM simulated a mid- and high-latitude ice IWP that decreased by ~50% relative to that simulated for CMIP3 (Jiang et al. 2012; JGR). Tropical IWP increased by ~15% in CMIP5. While the tropical IWP was still within the published upper-bounds of IWP uncertainty derived using NASA A-Train satellite observations, it was found that the upper troposphere (~200 mb) ice water content (IWC) exceeded the published upper-bound by a factor of ~2. This was largely driven by IWC in deep-convecting regions of the tropics. Recent advances in the model-E2 convective parameterization have been found to have a substantial impact on tropical IWC. These advances include the development of both a cold pool parameterization (Del Genio et al. 2015) and new convective ice parameterization. In this presentation, we focus on the new parameterization of convective cloud ice that was developed using data from the NASA TC4 Mission. Ice particle terminal velocity formulations now include information from a number of NASA field campaigns. The new parameterization predicts both an ice water mass weighted-average particle diameter and a particle cross sectional area weighted-average size diameter as a function of temperature and ice water content. By assuming a gamma-distribution functional form for the particle size distribution, these two diameter estimates are all that are needed to explicitly predict the distribution of ice particles as a function of particle diameter. GCM simulations with the improved convective parameterization yield a ~50% decrease in upper tropospheric IWC, bringing the tropical and global mean IWP climatologies into even closer agreement with the A-Train satellite observation best estimates.

  7. Ion Irradiation of H2-Laden Porous Water-ice Films: Implications for Interstellar Ices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raut, U.; Mitchell, E. H.; Baragiola, R. A.

    2015-10-01

    To understand the effects of cosmic-ray (CR) impacts on interstellar icy grains immersed in H2 gas, we have irradiated porous water-ice films loaded with H2 with 100 keV H+. The ice films were exposed to H2 gas at different pressures following deposition and during irradiation. A net H2 loss is observed during irradiation due to competition between ion-induced sputtering and gas adsorption. The initial H2 loss cross-section, 4(1) × 10-14 cm2, was independent of film thickness, H2, and proton fluxes. In addition to sputtering, irradiation also closes nanopores, trapping H2 in the film with binding that exceeds physical absorption energies. As a result, 2%-7% H2 is retained in the ice following irradiation to high fluences. We find that the trapped H2 concentration increases with decreasing Φ, the ratio of ion to H2 fluxes, suggesting that as high as 8% solid H2 can be trapped in interstellar ice by CR or stellar wind impacts.

  8. Dissolved and particulate trace metal micronutrients under the McMurdo Sound seasonal sea ice: basal sea ice communities as a capacitor for iron

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noble, Abigail; Saito, Mak; Moran, Dawn; Allen, Andrew

    2013-10-01

    Dissolved and particulate metal concentrations are reported from three sites beneath and at the base of the McMurdo Sound seasonal sea ice in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. This dataset provided insight into Co and Mn biogeochemistry, supporting a previous hypothesis for water column mixing occurring faster than scavenging. Three observations support this: first, Mn-containing particles with Mn/Al ratios in excess of the sediment were present in the water column, implying the presence of bacterial Mn-oxidation processes. Second, dissolved and labile Co were uniform with depth beneath the sea ice after the winter season. Third, dissolved Co:PO43- ratios were consistent with previously observed Ross Sea stoichiometry, implying that over-winter scavenging was slow relative to mixing. Abundant dissolved Fe and Mn were consistent with a winter reserve concept, and particulate Al, Fe, Mn, and Co covaried, implying that these metals behaved similarly. Elevated particulate metals were observed in proximity to the nearby Islands, with particulate Fe/Al ratios similar to that of nearby sediment, consistent with a sediment resuspension source. Dissolved and particulate metals were elevated at the shallowest depths (particularly Fe) with elevated particulate P/Al and Fe/Al ratios in excess of sediments, demonstrating a sea ice biomass source. The sea ice biomass was extremely dense (chl a >9500 μg/L) and contained high abundances of particulate metals with elevated metal/Al ratios. A hypothesis for seasonal accumulation of bioactive metals at the base of the McMurdo Sound sea ice by the basal algal community is presented, analogous to a capacitor that accumulates iron during the spring and early summer. The release and transport of particulate metals accumulated at the base of the sea ice by sloughing is discussed as a potentially important mechanism in providing iron nutrition during polynya phytoplankton bloom formation and could be examined in future oceanographic expeditions.

  9. EPR Evidence of Liquid Water in Ice: An Intrinsic Property of Water or a Self-Confinement Effect?

    PubMed

    Thangswamy, Muthulakshmi; Maheshwari, Priya; Dutta, Dhanadeep; Rane, Vinayak; Pujari, Pradeep K

    2018-06-01

    Liquid water (LW) existence in pure ice below 273 K has been a controversial aspect primarily because of the lack of experimental evidence. Recently, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) has been used to study deeply supercooled water in a rapidly frozen polycrystalline ice. The same technique can also be used to probe the presence of LW in polycrystalline ice that has formed through a more conventional, slow cooling one. In this context, the present study aims to emphasize that in case of an external probe involving techniques such as EPR, the results are influenced by the binary phase (BP) diagram of the probe-water system, which also predicts the existence of LW domains in ice, up to the eutectic point. Here we report the results of our such EPR spin-probe studies on water, which demonstrate that smaller the concentration of the probe stronger is the EPR evidence of liquid domains in polycrystalline ice. We used computer simulations based on stochastic Liouville theory to analyze the lineshapes of the EPR spectra. We show that the presence of the spin probe modifies the BP diagram of water, at very low concentrations of the spin probe. The spin probe thus acts, not like a passive reporter of the behavior of the solvent and its environment, but as an active impurity to influence the solvent. We show that there exists a lower critical concentration, below which BP diagram needs to be modified, by incorporating the effect of confinement of the spin probe. With this approach, we demonstrate that the observed EPR evidence of LW domains in ice can be accounted for by the modified BP diagram of the probe-water system. The present work highlights the importance of taking cognizance of the possibility of spin probes affecting the host systems, when interpreting the EPR (or any other probe based spectroscopic) results of phase transitions of host, as its ignorance may lead to serious misinterpretations.

  10. Creep of water ices at planetary conditions: A compilation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durham, W.B.; Kirby, S.H.; Stern, L.A.

    1997-01-01

    Many constitutive laws for the flow of ice have been published since the advent of the Voyager explorations of the outer solar system. Conflicting data have occasionally come from different laboratories, and refinement of experimental techniques has led to the publication of laws that supersede earlier ones. In addition, there are unpublished data from ongoing research that also amend the constitutive laws. Here we compile the most current laboratory-derived flow laws for water ice phases I, II, III, V, and VI, and ice I mixtures with hard particulates. The rheology of interest is mainly that of steady state, and the conditions reviewed are the pressures and temperatures applicable to the surfaces and interiors of icy moons of the outer solar system. Advances in grain-size-dependent creep in ices I and II as well as in phase transformations and metastability under differential stress are also included in this compilation. At laboratory strain rates the several ice polymorphs are rheologically distinct in terms of their stress, temperature, and pressure dependencies but, with the exception of ice III, have fairly similar strengths. Hard particulates strengthen ice I significantly only at high particulate volume fractions. Ice III has the potential for significantly affecting mantle dynamics because it is much weaker than the other polymorphs and its region of stability, which may extend metastably well into what is nominally the ice II field, is located near likely geotherms of large icy moons. Copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.

  11. Lessons: Science: "Sinkholes." Students Observe What Happens When Ice-Cold Water Mingles with Warm Water.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    VanCleave, Janice

    2000-01-01

    This intermediate-level science activity has students observe the effect of ice-cold water mingling with warm water. Water's behavior and movement alters with shifts in temperature. Students must try to determine how temperature affects the movement of water. Necessary materials include a pencil, cup, glass jar, masking tape, warm water, ice…

  12. Life in Ice: Implications to Astrobiology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hoover, Richard B.

    2009-01-01

    During the 2008 Tawani International Expedition Schirmacher Oasis/Lake Untersee Antarctica Expedition, living and instantly motile bacteria were found in freshly thawed meltwater from ice of the Schirmacher Oasis Lakes, the Anuchin Glacier ice and samples of the that perennial ice sheet above Lake Untersee. This phenomenon of living bacteria encased in ice had previously been observed in the 32,000 year old ice of the Fox Tunnel. The bacteria found in this ice included the strain FTR1T which was isolated and published as valid new species (Carnobacterium pleistocenium) the first validly published living Pleistocene organism still alive today. Living bacteria were also extracted from ancient ice cores from Vostok, Antarctica. The discovery that many strains of bacteria are able to survive and remain alive while frozen in ice sheets for long periods of time may have direct relevance to Astrobiology. The abundance of viable bacteria in the ice sheets of Antarctica suggests that the presence of live bacteria in ice is common, rather than an isolated phenomenon. This paper will discuss the results of recent studies at NSSTC of bacteria cryopreserved in ice. This paper advances the hypothesis that cryopreserved cells, and perhaps even viable bacterial cells, may exist today--frozen in the water-ice of lunar craters, the Polar Caps or craters of Mars; or in the permafrost of Mars; ice and rocks of comets or water bearing asteroids; or in the frozen crusts of the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. The existence of bacterial life in ice suggests that it may not be necessary to drill through a thick ice crust to reach liquid water seas deep beneath the icy crusts of Europa, Ganymede and Enceladus. The presence of viable bacteria in the ice of the Earth s Polar Caps suggests that the possibility that cryo-panspermia (i.e., the trans-planetary transfer of microbial life by impact ejection/spallation of bacteria-rich polar ice masses) deserves serious consideration and study as a

  13. HOT WATER DRILL FOR TEMPERATE ICE.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Taylor, Philip L.

    1984-01-01

    The development of a high-pressure hot-water drill is described, which has been used reliably in temperate ice to depths of 400 meters with an average drill rate of about 1. 5 meters per minute. One arrangement of the equipment weighs about 500 kilograms, and can be contained on two sleds, each about 3 meters long. Simplified performance equations are given, and experiments with nozzle design suggest a characteristic number describing the efficiency of each design, and a minimum bore-hole diameter very close to 6 centimeters for a hot water drill. Also discussed is field experience with cold weather, water supply, and contact with englacial cavities and the glacier bed.

  14. THE EFFECTS OF INITIAL ABUNDANCES ON NITROGEN IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Schwarz, Kamber R.; Bergin, Edwin A.

    2014-12-20

    The dominant form of nitrogen provided to most solar system bodies is currently unknown, though available measurements show that the detected nitrogen in solar system rocks and ices is depleted with respect to solar abundances and the interstellar medium. We use a detailed chemical/physical model of the chemical evolution of a protoplanetary disk to explore the evolution and abundance of nitrogen-bearing molecules. Based on this model, we analyze how initial chemical abundances provided as either gas or ice during the early stages of disk formation influence which species become the dominant nitrogen bearers at later stages. We find that amore » disk with the majority of its initial nitrogen in either atomic or molecular nitrogen is later dominated by atomic and molecular nitrogen as well as NH{sub 3} and HCN ices, where the dominant species varies with disk radius. When nitrogen is initially in gaseous ammonia, it later becomes trapped in ammonia ice except in the outer disk where atomic nitrogen dominates. For a disk with the initial nitrogen in the form of ammonia ice, the nitrogen remains trapped in the ice as NH{sub 3} at later stages. The model in which most of the initial nitrogen is placed in atomic N best matches the ammonia abundances observed in comets. Furthermore, the initial state of nitrogen influences the abundance of N{sub 2}H{sup +}, which has been detected in protoplanetary disks. Strong N{sub 2}H{sup +} emission is found to be indicative of an N{sub 2} abundance greater than n{sub N{sub 2}}/n{sub H{sub 2}}>10{sup −6} in addition to tracing the CO snow line. Our models also indicate that NO is potentially detectable, with lower N gas abundances leading to higher NO abundances.« less

  15. Putting life on ice: bacteria that bind to frozen water

    PubMed Central

    Bernheim, Reut; Guo, Shuaiqi; Davies, Peter L.; Braslavsky, Ido

    2016-01-01

    Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) are typically small, soluble proteins produced by cold-adapted organisms to help them avoid ice damage by either resisting or tolerating freezing. By contrast, the IBP of the Antarctic bacterium Marinomonas primoryensis is an extremely long, 1.5 MDa protein consisting of five different regions. The fourth region, a 34 kDa domain, is the only part that confers ice binding. Bioinformatic studies suggest that this IBP serves as an adhesin that attaches the bacteria to ice to keep it near the top of the water column, where oxygen and nutrients are available. Using temperature-controlled cells and a microfluidic apparatus, we show that M. primoryensis adheres to ice and is only released when melting occurs. Binding is dependent on the mobility of the bacterium and the functionality of the IBP domain. A polyclonal antibody raised against the IBP region blocks bacterial ice adhesion. This concept may be the basis for blocking biofilm formation in other bacteria, including pathogens. Currently, this IBP is the only known example of an adhesin that has evolved to bind ice. PMID:27534698

  16. Bacterial activity in sea ice and open water of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica: A microautoradiographic study.

    PubMed

    Grossmann, S

    1994-07-01

    Metabolic activity of bacteria was investigated in open water, newly forming sea ice, and successive stages of pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Microautoradiography, using [(3)H]leucine as substrate, was compared with incorporation rates of [(3)H]leucine into proteins. Relation of [(3)H]leucine incorporation to the biomass of active bacteria provides information about changes of specific metabolic activity of cells. During a phytoplankton bloom in an ice-free, stratified water column, total numbers of bacteria in the euphotic zone averaged 2.3 × 10(5) ml(-1), but only about 13% showed activity via leucine uptake. Growth rate of the active bacteria was estimated as 0.3-0.4 days(-1). Total cell concentration of bacteria in 400 m depth was 6.6 × 10(4) ml(-1). Nearly 50% of these cells were active, although biomass production and specific growth rate were only about one-tenth that of the surface populations. When sea ice was forming in high concentrations of phytoplankton, bacterial biomass in the newly formed ice was 49.1 ng C ml(-1), exceeding that in open water by about one order of magnitude. Attachment of large bacteria to algal cells seems to cause their enrichment in the new ice, since specific bacterial activity was reduced during ice formation, and enrichment of bacteria was not observed when ice formed at low algal concentration. During growth of pack ice, biomass of bacteria increased within the brine channel system. Specific activity was still reduced at these later stages of ice development, and percentages of active cells were as low as 3-5%. In old, thick pack ice, bacterial activity was high and about 30% of cells were active. However, biomass-specific activity of bacteria remained significantly lower than that in open water. It is concluded that bacterial assemblages different to those of open water developed within the ice and were dominated by bacteria with lower average metabolic activity than those of ice-free water.

  17. Characterizing Uranus with an Ice giant Planetary Origins Probe (Ice-POP)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Marley, Mark S.; Fortney, Jonathan; Nettelmann, Nadine; Zahnle, Kevin J.

    2013-01-01

    detected in Neptune but not in Uranus. A measurement of the abundance of either would constrain the source mechanisms for these molecules (exogenic or internal). A major surprise from the Galileo Entry Probe was that the heavier noble gases Ar, Kr, and Xe are enhanced in Jupiter's atmosphere at a level comparable to what was seen for the chemically active volatiles N, C, and S. It had been generally expected that Ar, Kr, and Xe would be present in solar abundances, as all were expected to accrete with hydrogen during the gravitational capture of nebular gases. Enhanced abundances of Ar, Kr, and Xe is equivalent to saying that these noble gases have been separated from hydrogen. There are several mechanisms that could accomplish this but these hypotheses require further testing. Measurement of noble gas abundances in an ice giant would constrain the planetary formation and nebular mechanisms responsible for this enhancement. Standard three-layer models of Uranus find that the outer, predominantly H/He layer of Uranus does not reach pressures high enough (approximately 1 Mbar) for H2 to transition to liquid metallic hydrogen. However, valid models can also be constructed with a smaller intermediate water-rich layer, with hydrogen then reaching the metallic hydrogen phase. If this occurs, He should phase separate from the hydrogen and ``rain out," taking along a substantial abundance of Ne, as suggested for Jupiter (and likely also for Saturn). Hence He and Ne depletions could be probes of the planet's structure in the much deeper interior. A determination of Uranus' atmospheric abundances, particularly of the noble gasses, is thus critical to understanding the formation of Uranus, and giant planets in general. These measurements can only be performed with an entry probe. The second key measurement would be a temperature-pressure sounding to provide ground truth for remote measurements of atmospheric temperature and composition and to constrain the internal heat flow. This

  18. Bio-optical properties of Arctic drift ice and surface waters north of Svalbard from winter to spring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kowalczuk, Piotr; Meler, Justyna; Kauko, Hanna M.; Pavlov, Alexey K.; Zabłocka, Monika; Peeken, Ilka; Dybwad, Christine; Castellani, Giulia; Granskog, Mats A.

    2017-06-01

    We have quantified absorption by CDOM, aCDOM(λ), particulate matter, ap(λ), algal pigments, aph(λ), and detrital material, aNAP(λ), coincident with chlorophyll a in sea ice and surface waters in winter and spring 2015 in the Arctic Ocean north of Svalbard. The aCDOM(λ) was low in contrast to other regions of the Arctic Ocean, while ap(λ) has the largest contribution to absorption variability in sea ice and surface waters. ap(443) was 1.4-2.8 times and 1.3-1.8 times higher than aCDOM(443) in surface water and sea ice, respectively. aph(λ) contributed 90% and 81% to ap(λ), in open leads and under-ice waters column, and much less (53%-74%) in sea ice, respectively. Both aCDOM(λ) and ap(λ) followed closely the vertical distribution of chlorophyll a in sea ice and the water column. We observed a tenfold increase of the chlorophyll a concentration and nearly twofold increase in absorption at 443 nm in sea ice from winter to spring. The aCDOM(λ) dominated the absorption budget in the UV both in sea ice and surface waters. In the visible range, absorption was dominated by aph(λ), which contributed more than 50% and aCDOM(λ), which contributed 43% to total absorption in water column. Detrital absorption contributed significantly (33%) only in surface ice layer. Algae dynamics explained more than 90% variability in ap(λ) and aph(λ) in water column, but less than 70% in the sea ice. This study presents detailed absorption budget that is relevant for modeling of radiative transfer and primary production.

  19. ION IRRADIATION OF ETHANE AND WATER MIXTURE ICE AT 15 K: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE ISM

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Barros, A. L. F. de; Silveira, E. F da; Fulvio, D.

    2016-06-20

    Solid water has been observed on the surface of many different astronomical objects and is the dominant ice present in the universe, from the solar system (detected on the surface of some asteroids, planets and their satellites, trans-Neptunian objects [TNOs], comets, etc.) to dense cold interstellar clouds (where interstellar dust grains are covered with water-rich ices). Ethane has been detected across the solar system, from the atmosphere of the giant planets and the surface of Saturn’s satellite Titan to various comets and TNOs. To date, there were no experiments focused on icy mixtures of C{sub 2}H{sub 6} and H{sub 2}Omore » exposed to ion irradiation simulating cosmic rays, a case study for many astronomical environments in which C{sub 2}H{sub 6} has been detected. In this work, the radiolysis of a C{sub 2}H{sub 6}:H{sub 2}O (2:3) ice mixture bombarded by a 40 MeV{sup 58}Ni{sup 11+} ion beam is studied. The chemical evolution of the molecular species existing in the sample is monitored by a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The analysis of ethane, water, and molecular products in solid phase was performed. Induced chemical reactions in C{sub 2}H{sub 6}:H{sub 2}O ice produce 13 daughter molecular species. Their formation and dissociation cross sections are determined. Furthermore, atomic carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen budgets are determined and used to verify the stoichiometry of the most abundantly formed molecular species. The results are discussed in the view of solar system and interstellar medium chemistry. The study presented here should be regarded as a first step in laboratory works dedicated to simulate the effect of cosmic radiation on multicomponent mixtures involving C{sub 2}H{sub 6} and H{sub 2}O.« less

  20. The importance of sea ice for exchange of habitat-specific protist communities in the Central Arctic Ocean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hardge, Kristin; Peeken, Ilka; Neuhaus, Stefan; Lange, Benjamin A.; Stock, Alexandra; Stoeck, Thorsten; Weinisch, Lea; Metfies, Katja

    2017-01-01

    Sea ice is one of the main features influencing the Arctic marine protist community composition and diversity in sea ice and sea water. We analyzed protist communities within sea ice, melt pond water, under-ice water and deep-chlorophyll maximum water at eight sea ice stations sampled during summer of the 2012 record sea ice minimum year. Using Illumina sequencing, we identified characteristic communities associated with specific habitats and investigated protist exchange between these habitats. The highest abundance and diversity of unique taxa were found in sea ice, particularly in multi-year ice (MYI), highlighting the importance of sea ice as a unique habitat for sea ice protists. Melting of sea ice was associated with increased exchange of communities between sea ice and the underlying water column. In contrast, sea ice formation was associated with increased exchange between all four habitats, suggesting that brine rejection from the ice is an important factor for species redistribution in the Central Arctic. Ubiquitous taxa (e.g. Gymnodinium) that occurred in all habitats still had habitat-preferences. This demonstrates a limited ability to survive in adjacent but different environments. Our results suggest that the continued reduction of sea ice extent, and particularly of MYI, will likely lead to diminished protist exchange and subsequently, could reduce species diversity in all habitats of the Central Arctic Ocean. An important component of the unique sea ice protist community could be endangered because specialized taxa restricted to this habitat may not be able to adapt to rapid environmental changes.

  1. The Chemistry and Excitation of Water in Molecular Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hollenbach, David

    2003-01-01

    We model the chemistry and thermal balance of opaque molecular clouds exposed to an external flux of ultraviolet photons. We include the processes of gas phase and grain surface chemical reactions; in particular we examine closely the freezing of atoms and molecules onto grain surfaces and the desorption of molecules from grain surfaces as a function of depth into a molecular cloud. We find that on the surface of a molecular cloud the gas phase water abundances are low because of photodissociation, and the grain phase water (ice) abundance is low because of photodesorption of water from the grain surfaces. Deeper into the cloud, at A(sub v) less than or approximately 2-8 depending on the strength of the external ultraviolet flux, the gas phase water abundance increases with depth as the photodissociation rates decline due to dust attenuation of the ultraviolet field. However, beyond A(sub v) less than or approximately 2-8 the gas phase water abundance declines because the water freezes as water ice on the grains, and photodesorption is no longer effective in clearing the ice. A peak water abundance of about 10(exp -6) to 10(exp -7) occurs at about A(sub v) approximately 2-8, relatively independent of the gas density and the ultraviolet field. We show that such a model matches very closely the observations of the Submillimeter Wave Astronomical Satellite (SWAS), a NASA Small Explorer Mission. The model elucidates several mechanisms that have been recently invoked to understand gas phase chemistry in clouds, including-the freeze-out of molecules onto grain surface, the desorption of these molecules from the surfaces, and the abundance gradients of molecules as functions of depth into molecular clouds.

  2. Radar and infrared remote sensing of terrain, water resources, arctic sea ice, and agriculture

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Biggs, A. W.

    1983-01-01

    Radar range measurements, basic waveforms of radar systems, and radar displays are initially described. These are followed by backscatter from several types of terrain and vegetation as a function of frequency and grazing angle. Analytical models for this backscatter include the facet models of radar return, with range-angle, velocity-range, velocity-angle, range, velocity, and angular only discriminations. Several side-looking airborne radar geometries are presented. Radar images of Arctic sea ice, fresh water lake ice, cloud-covered terrain, and related areas are presented to identify applications of radar imagery. Volume scatter models are applied to radar imagery from alpine snowfields. Short pulse ice thickness radar for subsurface probes is discussed in fresh-water ice and sea ice detection. Infrared scanners, including multispectral, are described. Diffusion of cold water into a river, Arctic sea ice, power plant discharges, volcanic heat, and related areas are presented in thermal imagery. Multispectral radar and infrared imagery are discussed, with comparisons of photographic, infrared, and radar imagery of the same terrain or subjects.

  3. The barrier to ice nucleation in monatomic water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prestipino, Santi

    2018-03-01

    Crystallization from a supercooled liquid initially proceeds via the formation of a small solid embryo (nucleus), which requires surmounting an activation barrier. This phenomenon is most easily studied by numerical simulation, using specialized biased-sampling techniques to overcome the limitations imposed by the rarity of nucleation events. Here, I focus on the barrier to homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water, as represented by the monatomic-water model, which in the bulk exhibits a complex interplay between different ice structures. I consider various protocols to identify solidlike particles on a computer, which perform well enough for the Lennard-Jones model, and compare their respective impact on the shape and height of the nucleation barrier. It turns out that the effect is stronger on the nucleus size than on the barrier height. As a by-product of the analysis, I determine the structure of the nucleation cluster, finding that the relative amount of ice phases in the cluster heavily depends on the method used for classifying solidlike particles. Moreover, the phase which is most favored during the earlier stages of crystallization may happen, depending on the nucleation coordinate adopted, to be different from the stable polymorph. Therefore, the quality of a reaction coordinate cannot be assessed simply on the basis of the barrier height obtained. I explain how this outcome is possible and why it just points out the shortcoming of collective variables appropriate to simple fluids in providing a robust method of particle classification for monatomic water.

  4. Equilibrium freezing of leaf water and extracellular ice formation in Afroalpine 'giant rosette' plants.

    PubMed

    Beck, E; Schulze, E D; Senser, M; Scheibe, R

    1984-09-01

    The water potentials of frozen leaves of Afroalpine plants were measured psychrometrically in the field. Comparison of these potentials with the osmotic potentials of an expressed cellular sap and the water potentials of ice indicated almost ideal freezing behaviour and suggested equilibrium freezing. On the basis of the osmotic potentials of expressed cellular sap, the fractions of frozen cellular water which correspond to the measured water potentials of the frozen leaves could be determined (e.g. 74% at -3.0° C). The freezing points of leaves were found to be in the range between 0° C and -0.5° C, rendering evidence for freezing of almost pure water and thus confirming the conclusions drawn from the water-potential measurements. The leaves proved to be frost resistant down to temperatures between -5° C and -15° C, as depending on the species. They tolerated short supercooling periods which were necessary in order to start ice nucleation. Extracellular ice caps and ice crystals in the intercellular space were observed when cross sections of frozen leaves were investigated microscopically at subfreezing temperatures.

  5. Estimating Surface and Subsurface Ice Abundance on Mercury Using a Thermophysical Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rubanenko, L.; Mazarico, E.; Neumann, G. A.; Paige, D. A.

    2016-12-01

    The small obliquity of the Moon and Mercury causes some topographic features near their poles to cast permanent shadows for geologic time periods. In the past, these permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) were found to have low enough temperatures to trap surface and subsurface water ice. On Mercury, high normal albedo is correlated with maximum temperatures <100 m and high radar backscatter, possibly indicating the presence of surface ice. Areas with slightly higher maximum temperatures were measured to have a decreased albedo, postulated to contain of organic materials overlaying buried ice. We evaluate this theory by employing a thermophysical model that considers insolation, scattering, thermal emissions and subsurface conduction. We model the area fraction of surface and subsurface cold-traps on realistic topography at scales of ˜500 m , recorded by the Mercury Laster Altimeter (MLA) on board the MErcury Surface, Space ENviroment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. At smaller scales, below the instrument threshold, we consider a statistical description of the surface assuming a Gaussian slope distribution. Using the modeled cold-trap area fraction we calculate the expected surface albedo and compare it to MESSENGER's near-infrared surface reflectance data. Last, we apply our model to other airless small-obliquity planetary bodies such as the Moon and Ceres in order to explain other correlations between the maximum temperature and normal albedo.

  6. Peculiarities of the Bound Water and Water Ice Seasonal Variations in the Martian Surface Layer of the Regolith.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuzmin, R. O.; Zabalueva, E. V.; Evdokimova, N. A.; Christensen, P. H.; Mitrofanov, I. G.; Litvak, M. L.

    2008-09-01

    Introduction: The processes of the hydration/ dehydration of salt minerals within the Martian soil and the condensation/sublimation of water ice (and frost) in the surficial soil layer and on the polar cap surface play great significance in the modern water cycle on Mars and directly affect the redistribution of the water phases and forms in the system "atmosphere/regolith/polar caps" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The processes are reversible in time and their intensity is strongly dependent on such time-variable climatic parameters as atmospheric and surface temperature, atmospheric water vapour content and specific features of atmospheric seasonal circulation [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. In the work we report the study results of the seasonal variations of the chemically bound water (BW) spectral signature (based on the TES and OMEGA data), estimation and mapping of the winterand spring-time water ice increase within the Martian surface soil (based on the TES and HEND data). Analysis and results: Regional and global mapping of the BW spectral index distribution as function of the seasons was conducted by using of the 6.1 μm emission pick from the TES dataset and the 1.91 μm absorption band from reflectance spectra of the OMEGA data. The study of the seasonal redistribution of the water ice (and frost) within the thin surficial soil layer was conducted based on the TES thermal inertia (TI) data and the HEND neutrons flux mapping data. Bound water mapping: The mapping of the TES 6.1 μm BW index distributions was conducted at the time steps from 30° to 60° of Ls [11]. The mapping results show remarkable changes of the BW index values from one season to other one at notable latitudinal dependence of the index (Fig.1). At that, the higher BW index values are disposed mostly within the peripheral zone near the edge of the perennial and seasonal polar caps (cooler, wetter areas), while the lower BW index values are observed at low latitudes (warmer, drier areas). Between the Nspring (Ls=0

  7. Peculiarities of the Bound Water and Water Ice Seasonal Variations in the Martian Surface Layer of the Regolith.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuzmin, R. O.; Zabalueva, E. V.; Evdokimova, N. A.; Christensen, P. H.; Mitrofanov, I. G.; Litvak, M. L.

    2008-09-01

    Introduction: The processes of the hydration/ dehydration of salt minerals within the Martian soil and the condensation/sublimation of water ice (and frost) in the surficial soil layer and on the polar cap surface play great significance in the modern water cycle on Mars and directly affect the redistribution of the water phases and forms in the system "atmosphere/regolith/polar caps" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The processes are reversible in time and their intensity is strongly dependent on such time-variable climatic parameters as atmospheric and surface temperature, atmospheric water vapour content and specific features of atmospheric seasonal circulation [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. In the work we report the study results of the seasonal variations of the chemically bound water (BW) spectral signature (based on the TES and OMEGA data), estimation and mapping of the winterand spring-time water ice increase within the Martian surface soil (based on the TES and HEND data). Analysis and results: Regional and global mapping of the BW spectral index distribution as function of the seasons was conducted by using of the 6.1 μm emission pick from the TES dataset and the 1.91 μm absorption band from reflectance spectra of the OMEGA data. The study of the seasonal redistribution of the water ice (and frost) within the thin surficial soil layer was conducted based on the TES thermal inertia (TI) data and the HEND neutrons flux mapping data. Bound water mapping: The mapping of the TES 6.1 μm BW index distributions was conducted at the time steps from 30° to 60° of Ls [11]. The mapping results show remarkable changes of the BW index values from one season to other one at notable latitudinal dependence of the index (Fig.1). At that, the higher BW index values are disposed mostly within the peripheral zone near the edge of the perennial and seasonal polar caps (cooler, wetter areas), while the lower BW index values are observed at low latitudes (warmer, drier areas). Between the Nspring (Ls=0

  8. Water Droplet Impingement on Simulated Glaze, Mixed, and Rime Ice Accretions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Papadakis, Michael; Rachman, Arief; Wong, See-Cheuk; Yeong, Hsiung-Wei; Hung, Kuohsing E.; Vu, Giao T.; Bidwell, Colin S.

    2007-01-01

    Water droplet impingement data were obtained at the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel (IRT) for a 36-in. chord NACA 23012 airfoil with and without simulated ice using a dye-tracer method. The simulated ice shapes were defined with the NASA Glenn LEWICE 2.2 ice accretion program and including one rime, four mixed and five glaze ice shapes. The impingement experiments were performed with spray clouds having median volumetric diameters of 20, 52, 111, 154, and 236 micron. Comparisons to the experimental data were generated which showed good agreement for the rime and mixed shapes at lower drop sizes. For larger drops sizes LEWICE 2.2 over predicted the collection efficiencies due to droplet splashing effects which were not modeled in the program. Also for the more complex glaze ice shapes interpolation errors resulted in the over prediction of collection efficiencies in cove or shadow regions of ice shapes.

  9. Partitioning CloudSat Ice Water Content for Comparison with Upper-Tropospheric Ice in Global Atmospheric Models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, W. A.; Woods, C. P.; Li, J. F.; Waliser, D. E.; Chern, J.; Tao, W.; Jiang, J. H.; Tompkins, A. M.

    2010-12-01

    CloudSat provides important estimates of vertically resolved ice water content (IWC) on a global scale based on radar reflectivity. These estimates of IWC have proven beneficial in evaluating the representations of ice clouds in global models. An issue when performing model-data comparisons of IWC particularly germane to this investigation, is the question of which component(s) of the frozen water mass are represented by retrieval estimates and how they relate to what is represented in models. The present study developed and applied a new technique to partition CloudSat total IWC into small and large ice hydrometeors, based on the CloudSat-retrieved ice particle size distribution (PSD) parameters. The new method allows one to make relevant model-data comparisons and provides new insights into the model’s representation of atmospheric IWC. The partitioned CloudSat IWC suggests that the small ice particles contribute to 20-30% of the total IWC in the upper troposphere when a threshold size of 100 μm is used. Sensitivity measures with respect to the threshold size, the PSD parameters, and the retrieval algorithms are presented. The new dataset is compared to model estimates, pointing to areas for model improvement. Cloud ice analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model agree well with the small IWC from CloudSat. The finite-volume multi-scale modeling framework model underestimates total IWC at 147 and 215 hPa, while overestimating the fractional contribution from the small ice species. These results are discussed in terms of their applications to, and implications for, the evaluation of global atmospheric models, providing constraints on the representations of cloud feedback and precipitation in global models, which in turn can help reduce uncertainties associated with climate change projections. Figure 1. A sample lognormal ice number distribution (red curve), and the corresponding mass distribution (black curve). The dotted line

  10. Microwave radiometric aircraft observations of the Fabry-Perot interference fringes of an ice-water system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Harrington, R. F.; Swift, C. T.; Fedors, J. C.

    1980-01-01

    Airborne stepped-frequency microwave radiometer (SFMR) observations of the Fabry-Perot interference fringes of ice-water systems are discussed. The microwave emissivity at normal incidence of a smooth layered dielectric medium over a semi-infinite dielectric medium is examined for the case of ice over water as a function of ice thickness and attenuation coefficient, and the presence of quarter-wavelength oscillations in emissivity as the ice thickness and frequency are varied is pointed out. Experimental observations of pronounced quarter-wavelength oscillations in radiometric brightness temperature due to the Fabry-Perot interference fringes over smooth sea ice and lake ice varying in roughness as the radiometer frequencies were scanned are then presented.

  11. Snow and ice ecosystems: not so extreme.

    PubMed

    Maccario, Lorrie; Sanguino, Laura; Vogel, Timothy M; Larose, Catherine

    2015-12-01

    Snow and ice environments cover up to 21% of the Earth's surface. They have been regarded as extreme environments because of their low temperatures, high UV irradiation, low nutrients and low water availability, and thus, their microbial activity has not been considered relevant from a global microbial ecology viewpoint. In this review, we focus on why snow and ice habitats might not be extreme from a microbiological perspective. Microorganisms interact closely with the abiotic conditions imposed by snow and ice habitats by having diverse adaptations, that include genetic resistance mechanisms, to different types of stresses in addition to inhabiting various niches where these potential stresses might be reduced. The microbial communities inhabiting snow and ice are not only abundant and taxonomically diverse, but complex in terms of their interactions. Altogether, snow and ice seem to be true ecosystems with a role in global biogeochemical cycles that has likely been underestimated. Future work should expand past resistance studies to understanding the function of these ecosystems. Copyright © 2015 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  12. The scaling of urban surface water abundance and impairment with city size

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Steele, M. K.

    2018-03-01

    Urbanization alters surface water compared to nonurban landscapes, yet little is known regarding how basic aquatic ecosystem characteristics, such as the abundance and impairment of surface water, differ with population size or regional context. This study examined the abundance, scaling, and impairment of surface water by quantifying the stream length, water body area, and impaired stream length for 3520 cities in the United States with populations from 2500 to 18 million. Stream length, water body area, and impaired stream length were quantified using the National Hydrography Dataset and the EPA's 303(d) list. These metrics were scaled with population and city area using single and piecewise power-law models and related to biophysical factors (precipitation, topography) and land cover. Results show that abundance of stream length and water body area in cities actually increases with city area; however, the per person abundance decreases with population size. Relative to population, impaired stream length did not increase until city populations were > 25,000 people, then scaled linearly with population. Some variation in abundance and impairment was explained by biophysical context and land cover. Development intensity correlated with stream density and impairment; however, those relationships depended on the orientation of the land covers. When high intensity development occupied the local elevation highs (+ 15 m) and undeveloped land the elevation lows, the percentage of impaired streams was less than the opposite land cover orientation (- 15 m) or very flat land. These results show that surface water abundance and impairment across contiguous US cities are influenced by city size and by biophysical setting interacting with land cover intensity.

  13. Melting of the precipitated ice IV in LiCl aqueous solution and polyamorphism of water.

    PubMed

    Mishima, Osamu

    2011-12-08

    Melting of the precipitated ice IV in supercooled LiCl-H(2)O solution was studied in the range of 0-0.6 MPa and 160-270 K. Emulsified solution was used to detect this metastable transition. Ice IV was precipitated from the aqueous solution of 2.0 mol % LiCl (or 4.8 mol % LiCl) in each emulsion particle at low-temperature and high-pressure conditions, and the emulsion was decompressed at different temperatures. The melting of ice IV was detected from the temperature change of the emulsified sample during the decompression. There was an apparently sudden change in the slope of the ice IV melting curve (liquidus) in the pressure-temperature diagram. At the high-pressure and high-temperature side of the change, the solute-induced freezing point depression was observed. At the low-pressure and low-temperature side, ice IV transformed into ice Ih on the decompression, and the transition was almost unrelated to the concentration of LiCl. These experimental results were roughly explained by the presumed existence of two kinds of liquid water (low-density liquid water and high-density liquid water), or polyamorphism in water, and by the simple assumption that LiCl dissolved maily in high-density liquid water. © 2011 American Chemical Society

  14. [The ice water test and bladder cooling reflex. Physiology, pathophysiology and clinical importance].

    PubMed

    Hüsch, T; Neuerburg, T; Reitz, A; Haferkamp, A

    2016-04-01

    Urodynamic studies are utilised for identification and follow-up of functional disorders of the lower urinary tract. Provocation tests are used to determine disorders which could not be revealed in standard cystometry. The ice water test is a simple test to identify neurogenic bladder dysfunction and to screen the integrity of the upper motor neuron in neurogenic bladder dysfunction. Development and significance of the ice water test is presented in this review against the background of physiology and pathophysiology of the lower urinary tract. A systematic review of PubMed and ScienceDirect databases was performed in April 2015. No language or time limitation was applied. The following key words and Medical Subject Heading terms were used to identify relevant studies: "ice water test", "bladder cooling reflex", "micturition" and "neuronal control". Review articles and bibliographies of other relevant studies identified were hand searched to find additional studies. The ice water test is performed by rapid instillation of 4-8 °C cold fluid into the urinary bladder. Hereby, afferent C fibers are activated by cold receptors in the bladder leading to the bladder cooling reflex. It is a spinal reflex which causes an involuntarily contraction of the urinary bladder. The test is normally positive in young infants during the first 4 years of life and become negative with maturation of the central nervous system afterwards by inhibition of the reflex. The damage of the upper motor neuron causes the recurrence of the reflex in the adulthood and indicates spinal and cerebral lesions. The ice water test is utilised to identify lesions of the upper motor neuron. However, in the case of detrusor acontractility the test will always be negative and can not be utilized to distinguish between neurogenic or muscular causes. Furthermore, the test is also positive in a small percentage of cases of non-neurogenic diseases, e.g. in prostate-related bladder outlet obstruction or

  15. Possible significance of cubic water-ice, H2O-Ic, in the atmospheric water cycle of Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gooding, James L.

    1988-01-01

    The possible formation and potential significance of the cubic ice polymorph on Mars is discussed. When water-ice crystallizes on Earth, the ambient conditions of temperature and pressure result in the formation of the hexagonal ice polymorph; however, on Mars, the much lower termperature and pressures may permit the crystallization of the cubic polymorph. Cubic ice has two properties of possible importance on Mars: it is an excellant nucleator of other volatiles (such as CO2), and it undergoes an exothermic transition to hexagonal ice at temperatures above 170 K. These properties may have significant implications for both martian cloud formation and the development of the seasonal polar caps.

  16. Short, intermediate and long range order in amorphous ices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martelli, Fausto; Torquato, Salvatore; Giovanbattista, Nicolas; Car, Roberto

    Water exhibits polyamorphism, i.e., it exists in more than one amorphous state. The most common forms of glassy water are the low-density amorphous (LDA) and the high-density amorphous (HDA) ices. LDA, the most abundant form of ice in the Universe, transforms into HDA upon isothermal compression. We model the transformation of LDA into HDA under isothermal compression with classical molecular dynamics simulations. We analyze the molecular structures with a recently introduced scalar order metric to measure short and intermediate range order. In addition, we rank the structures by their degree of hyperuniformity, i.e.,the extent to which long range density fluctuations are suppressed. F.M. and R.C. acknowledge support from the Department of Energy (DOE) under Grant No. DE-SC0008626.

  17. West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat driven by Holocene warm water incursions

    PubMed Central

    Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter; Smith, James A.; Hodell, David A.; Greaves, Mervyn; Poole, Christopher R.; Kender, Sev; Williams, Mark; Andersen, Thorbjørn Joest; Jernas, Patrycja E.; Klages, Johann P.; Roberts, Stephen J.; Gohl, Karsten; Larter, Robert D.; Kuhn, Gerhard

    2017-01-01

    Glaciological and oceanographic observations coupled with numerical models show that warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) upwelling onto the West Antarctic continental shelf causes melting of the undersides of floating ice shelves. Because these ice shelves buttress glaciers feeding into them, their ocean-induced thinning is driving Antarctic ice-sheet loss today. Here we present the first multi-proxy data based reconstruction of variability in CDW inflow to the Amundsen Sea sector, the most vulnerable part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, during the last 11,000 years. The chemical composition of foraminifer shells and benthic foraminifer assemblages in marine sediments indicate that enhanced CDW upwelling, controlled by the latitudinal position of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds, forced deglaciation of this sector both until 7,500 years ago, when an ice-shelf collapse may have caused rapid ice-sheet thinning further upstream, and since the 1940s. These results increase confidence in the predictive capability of current ice-sheet models. PMID:28682333

  18. Competition for water vapour results in suppression of ice formation in mixed-phase clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simpson, Emma L.; Connolly, Paul J.; McFiggans, Gordon

    2018-05-01

    The formation of ice in clouds can initiate precipitation and influence a cloud's reflectivity and lifetime, affecting climate to a highly uncertain degree. Nucleation of ice at elevated temperatures requires an ice nucleating particle (INP), which results in so-called heterogeneous freezing. Previously reported measurements for the ability of a particle to nucleate ice have been made in the absence of other aerosol which will act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and are ubiquitous in the atmosphere. Here we show that CCN can outcompete INPs for available water vapour thus suppressing ice formation, which has the potential to significantly affect the Earth's radiation budget. The magnitude of this suppression is shown to be dependent on the mass of condensed water required for freezing. Here we show that ice formation in a state-of-the-art cloud parcel model is strongly dependent on the criteria for heterogeneous freezing selected from those previously hypothesised. We have developed an alternative criteria which agrees well with observations from cloud chamber experiments. This study demonstrates the dominant role that competition for water vapour can play in ice formation, highlighting both a need for clarity in the requirements for heterogeneous freezing and for measurements under atmospherically appropriate conditions.

  19. Sea-ice cover in the Nordic Seas and the sensitivity to Atlantic water temperatures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jensen, Mari F.; Nisancioglu, Kerim H.; Spall, Michael A.

    2017-04-01

    Changes in the sea-ice cover of the Nordic Seas have been proposed to play a key role for the dramatic temperature excursions associated with the Dansgaard-Oeschger events during the last glacial. However, with its proximity to the warm Atlantic water, how a sea-ice cover can persist in the Nordic Seas is not well understood. In this study, we apply an eddy-resolving configuration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model with an idealized topography to study the presence of sea ice in a Nordic Seas-like domain. We assume an infinite amount of warm Atlantic water present in the south by restoring the southern area to constant temperatures. The sea-surface temperatures are restored toward cold, atmospheric temperatures, and as a result, sea ice is present in the interior of the domain. However, the sea-ice cover in the margins of the Nordic Seas, an area with a warm, cyclonic boundary current, is sensitive to the amount of heat entering the domain, i.e., the restoring temperature in the south. When the temperature of the warm, cyclonic boundary current is high, the margins are free of sea ice and heat is released to the atmosphere. We show that with a small reduction in the temperature of the incoming Atlantic water, the Nordic Seas-like domain is fully covered in sea ice. Warm water is still entering the Nordic Seas, however, this happens at depths below a cold, fresh surface layer produced by melted sea ice. Consequently, the heat release to the atmosphere is reduced along with the eddy heat fluxes. Results suggest a threshold value in the amount of heat entering the Nordic Seas before the sea-ice cover disappears in the margins. We study the sensitivity of this threshold to changes in atmospheric temperatures and vertical diffusivity.

  20. SIMPLE MODEL OF ICE SEGREGATION USING AN ANALYTIC FUNCTION TO MODEL HEAT AND SOIL-WATER FLOW.

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hromadka, T.V.; Guymon, G.L.

    1984-01-01

    This paper reports on the development of a simple two-dimensional model of coupled heat and soil-water flow in freezing or thawing soil. The model also estimates ice-segregation (frost-heave) evolution. Ice segregation in soil results from water drawn into a freezing zone by hydraulic gradients created by the freezing of soil-water. Thus, with a favorable balance between the rate of heat extraction and the rate of water transport to a freezing zone, segregated ice lenses may form.

  1. Vertical Distribution of Dust and Water Ice Aerosols from CRISM Limb-geometry Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Smith, Michael Doyle; Wolff, Michael J.; Clancy, Todd; Kleinbohl, Armin; Murchie, Scott L.

    2013-01-01

    [1] Near-infrared spectra taken in a limb-viewing geometry by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provide a useful tool for probing atmospheric structure. Specifically, the observed radiance as a function of wavelength and height above the limb enables the vertical distribution of both dust and water ice aerosols to be retrieved. More than a dozen sets of CRISM limb observations have been taken so far providing pole-to-pole cross sections, spanning more than a full Martian year. Radiative transfer modeling is used to model the observations taking into account multiple scattering from aerosols and the spherical geometry of the limb observations. Both dust and water ice vertical profiles often show a significant vertical structure for nearly all seasons and latitudes that is not consistent with the well-mixed or Conrath-v assumptions that have often been used in the past for describing aerosol vertical profiles for retrieval and modeling purposes. Significant variations are seen in the retrieved vertical profiles of dust and water ice aerosol as a function of season. Dust typically extends to higher altitudes (approx. 40-50km) during the perihelion season than during the aphelion season (<20km), and the Hellas region consistently shows more dust mixed to higher altitudes than other locations. Detached water ice clouds are common, and water ice aerosols are observed to cap the dust layer in all seasons.

  2. Putting life on ice: bacteria that bind to frozen water.

    PubMed

    Bar Dolev, Maya; Bernheim, Reut; Guo, Shuaiqi; Davies, Peter L; Braslavsky, Ido

    2016-08-01

    Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) are typically small, soluble proteins produced by cold-adapted organisms to help them avoid ice damage by either resisting or tolerating freezing. By contrast, the IBP of the Antarctic bacterium Marinomonas primoryensis is an extremely long, 1.5 MDa protein consisting of five different regions. The fourth region, a 34 kDa domain, is the only part that confers ice binding. Bioinformatic studies suggest that this IBP serves as an adhesin that attaches the bacteria to ice to keep it near the top of the water column, where oxygen and nutrients are available. Using temperature-controlled cells and a microfluidic apparatus, we show that M. primoryensis adheres to ice and is only released when melting occurs. Binding is dependent on the mobility of the bacterium and the functionality of the IBP domain. A polyclonal antibody raised against the IBP region blocks bacterial ice adhesion. This concept may be the basis for blocking biofilm formation in other bacteria, including pathogens. Currently, this IBP is the only known example of an adhesin that has evolved to bind ice. © 2016 The Authors.

  3. Evaluation of the Water Film Weber Number in Glaze Icing Scaling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tsao, Jen-Ching; Kreeger, Richard E.; Feo, Alejandro

    2010-01-01

    Icing scaling tests were performed in the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel to evaluate a new scaling method, developed and proposed by Feo for glaze icing, in which the scale liquid water content and velocity were found by matching reference and scale values of the nondimensional water-film thickness expression and the film Weber number. For comparison purpose, tests were also conducted using the constant We(sub L) method for velocity scaling. The reference tests used a full-span, fiberglass, 91.4-cm-chord NACA 0012 model with velocities of 76 and 100 knot and MVD sizes of 150 and 195 microns. Scale-to-reference model size ratio was 1:2.6. All tests were made at 0deg AOA. Results will be presented for stagnation point freezing fractions of 0.3 and 0.5.

  4. Discharge of water and sediment from ice-streams on the southeastern Laurentide Ice Sheet during Heinrich events: timing and magnitude

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rashid, H.; Piper, D.

    2017-12-01

    features and plume deposits show that meltwater becomes much more abundant in more southerly ice streams and some local plume deposits contribute to the thickness of H layers. The contribution of freshwater from melting icebergs and from direct meltwater discharge are approximately similar during H events.

  5. Onset of ice VII phase during ps laser pulse propagation through liquid water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paturi, Prem Kiran; Vaddapally, Rakesh Kumar; Acrhem Team

    2015-06-01

    Water dominantly present in liquid state on earth gets transformed to crystalline polymorphs under different dynamic loading conditions. Out of 15 different crystalline phases discovered till date, ice VII is observed to be stable over wide pressure (2-63 GPa) and temperature (>273 K) ranges. We present the onset of ice VII phase at low threshold of 2 mJ/pulse during 30 ps (532 nm, 10 Hz) laser pulse induced shock propagating through liquid water. Role of input pulse energy on the evolution of Stoke's and anti-Stoke's Raman shift of the dominant A1g mode of ice VII, filamentation, free-electrons, plasma shielding is presented. The H-bond network rearrangement, electron ion energy transfer time coinciding with the excitation pulse duration supported by the filamentation and plasma shielding of the ps laser pulses reduced the threshold of ice VII structure formation. Filamentation and the plasma shielding have shown the localized creation and sustenance of ice VII structure in liquid water over 3 mm length and 50 μm area of cross-section. The work is supported by Defence Research and Developement Organization, India through Grants-in-Aid Program.

  6. Study on heat transfer performance of water-borne and oily graphene coatings using anti-/de-icing component

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Long; Zhang, Yidu; Wu, Qiong; Jie, Zhang

    2018-02-01

    A graphene coating anti-/de-icing experiment was proposed by employing water-borne and oily graphene coatings on the composite material anti-/de-icing component. Considering the characteristics of helicopter rotor sensitivity to icing, a new graphene coating enhancing thermal conductivity of anti-/de-icing component was proposed. The anti-/de-icing experiment was conducted to validate the effectiveness of graphene coating. The results of the experiment show that the graphene coatings play a prominent role in controlling the heat transfer of anti-/de-icing component. The anti-/de-icing effect of oily graphene coating is superior to water-borne graphene.

  7. ALMA Thermal Mapping of Ceres – Search for Subsurface Water Ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moullet, Arielle; Li, Jian-Yang; Titus, Timothy N.; Sykes, Mark V.; Hsieh, Henry H.

    2018-06-01

    Spectroscopic observations of the surface of Ceres by Dawn have demonstrated that hydrated minerals are ubiquitous, but only few smaller sites are enriched with water ice. This is somewhat surprising as Ceres is believed to host a large amount a water in its interior.The possibility of inhomogeneous subsurface water distribution can be investigated by tracing thermal inertia distribution. To that effect, we mapped the temperature of Ceres using 1.3mm maps of the whole surface obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) over three different epochs during one Ceres’ year. Assessing the thermal conditions at the depths probed by sub millimeter observations (a few cm below the surface, within the annual thermal skin depth) is critical to constrain the effective thermal inertia, and hence the status of subsurface water ice. We will present preliminary results in terms of temperature features and the corresponding thermal inertia derived based on comparisons from the KRC thermal model which has been extensively used for Mars. Initial analysis is consistent with the presence of near-surface high thermal inertia layer, presumably water ice, in the north polar region.This work is supported by the NASA Solar System Observations Program NNX15AE02G.

  8. Preliminary Martian Atmospheric Water Vapour Column Abundances with Mars Climate Sounder

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lolachi, Ramin; Irwin, P. G. J.; Teanby, N.; Calcutt, S.; Howett, C. J. A.; Bowles, N. E.; Taylor, F. W.; Schofield, J. T.; Kleinboehl, A.; McCleese, D. J.

    2007-12-01

    Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) is an infra-red radiometer on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) launched in August 2005 and now orbiting Mars in a near circular polar orbit. MCS has nine spectral channels in the range 0.3-50 µm. Goals of MCS include global characterization of atmospheric temperature, dust and water profiles observing temporal and spatial variation. Using Oxford University's multivariate retrieval algorithm, NEMESIS, we present preliminary determinations of the water vapour column abundance in the Martian atmosphere during the period September-October 2006 (Ls range 111-129°, i.e. northern hemisphere summer). A combination of spectral channels inside and outside the water vapour rotation band (at 50 µm) are used to retrieve the column abundances mainly using nadir observations (as aerosol opacity is less important relative to water vapour opacity in nadir viewing geometry). We then compare these column abundances to earlier results from the Viking Orbiter Mars Atmospheric Water Detectors (MAWD) and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) on Mars Global Surveyor.

  9. Observations on the nucleation of ice VII in compressed water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stafford, Samuel J. P.; Chapman, David J.; Bland, Simon N.; Eakins, Daniel E.

    2017-01-01

    Water can freeze upon multiple shock compression, but the window material determines the pressure of the phase transition. Several plate impact experiments were conducted with liquid targets on a single-stage gas gun, diagnosed simultaneously using photonic doppler velocimetry (PDV) and high speed imaging through the water. The experiments investigated why silica windows instigate freezing above 2.5 GPa whilst sapphire windows do not until 7 GPa. We find that the nucleation of ice occurs on the surfaces of windows and can be affected by the surface coating suggesting the surface energy of fused silica, likely due to hydroxyl groups, encourages nucleation of ice VII crystallites. Aluminium coatings prevent nucleation and sapphire surfaces do not nucleate until approximately 6.5 GPa. This is believed to be the threshold pressure for the homogeneous nucleation of water.

  10. Antarctic subglacial groundwater: measurement concept and potential influence on ice flow

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kulessa, Bernd; Siegert, Martin; Bougamont, Marion; Christoffersen, Poul; Key, Kerry; Andersen, Kristoffer; Booth, Adam; Smith, Andrew

    2017-04-01

    Is groundwater abundant in Antarctica and does it modulate ice flow? Answering this question matters because ice streams flow by gliding over a wet substrate of till. Water fed to ice-stream beds thus influences ice-sheet dynamics and, potentially, sea-level rise. It is recognised that both till and the sedimentary basins from which it originates are porous and could host a reservoir of mobile groundwater that interacts with the subglacial interfacial system. According to recent numerical modelling up to half of all water available for basal lubrication, and time lags between hydrological forcing and ice-sheet response as long as millennia, may have been overlooked in models of ice flow. Here, we review evidence in support of Antarctic groundwater and propose how it can be measured to ascertain the extent to which it modulates ice flow. We present new seismoelectric soundings of subglacial till, and new magnetotelluric and transient electromagnetic forward models of subglacial groundwater reservoirs. We demonstrate that multi-facetted and integrated geophysical datasets can detect, delineate and quantify the groundwater contents of subglacial sedimentary basins and, potentially, monitor groundwater exchange rates between subglacial till layers. We thus describe a new area of glaciological investigation and how it should progress in future.

  11. Ice Water Classification Using Statistical Distribution Based Conditional Random Fields in RADARSAT-2 Dual Polarization Imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Y.; Li, F.; Zhang, S.; Hao, W.; Zhu, T.; Yuan, L.; Xiao, F.

    2017-09-01

    In this paper, Statistical Distribution based Conditional Random Fields (STA-CRF) algorithm is exploited for improving marginal ice-water classification. Pixel level ice concentration is presented as the comparison of methods based on CRF. Furthermore, in order to explore the effective statistical distribution model to be integrated into STA-CRF, five statistical distribution models are investigated. The STA-CRF methods are tested on 2 scenes around Prydz Bay and Adélie Depression, where contain a variety of ice types during melt season. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can resolve sea ice edge well in Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) and show a robust distinction of ice and water.

  12. Modeling of water isotopes in polar regions and application to ice core studies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jouzel, J.

    2012-04-01

    Willi Dansgaard spear-headed the use of the stable isotopes of water in climatology and palaeoclimatology especially as applied to deep ice cores for which measurements of the oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios remain the key tools for reconstructing continuous palaeotemperature records. In the line of his pioneering work on "Stable isotopes in precipitation" published in Tellus in 1964, I will review how isotopic models, either Rayleigh type or based on the implementation of water isotopes in General Circulation Models, have developed and been used for applications in polar ice core studies. This will include a discussion of the conventional approach for interpreting water isotopes in ice cores and of additional information provided by measurements of the deuterium excess and more recently of the 17O-excess.

  13. WATER-TRAPPED WORLDS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Menou, Kristen

    2013-09-01

    Although tidally locked habitable planets orbiting nearby M-dwarf stars are among the best astronomical targets to search for extrasolar life, they may also be deficient in volatiles and water. Climate models for this class of planets show atmospheric transport of water from the dayside to the nightside, where it is precipitated as snow and trapped as ice. Since ice only slowly flows back to the dayside upon accumulation, the resulting hydrological cycle can trap a large amount of water in the form of nightside ice. Using ice sheet dynamical and thermodynamical constraints, I illustrate how planets with less than aboutmore » a quarter the Earth's oceans could trap most of their surface water on the nightside. This would leave their dayside, where habitable conditions are met, potentially dry. The amount and distribution of residual liquid water on the dayside depend on a variety of geophysical factors, including the efficiency of rock weathering at regulating atmospheric CO{sub 2} as dayside ocean basins dry up. Water-trapped worlds with dry daysides may offer similar advantages as land planets for habitability, by contrast with worlds where more abundant water freely flows around the globe.« less

  14. Heavy ion irradiation of crystalline water ice. Cosmic ray amorphisation cross-section and sputtering yield

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dartois, E.; Augé, B.; Boduch, P.; Brunetto, R.; Chabot, M.; Domaracka, A.; Ding, J. J.; Kamalou, O.; Lv, X. Y.; Rothard, H.; da Silveira, E. F.; Thomas, J. C.

    2015-04-01

    Context. Under cosmic irradiation, the interstellar water ice mantles evolve towards a compact amorphous state. Crystalline ice amorphisation was previously monitored mainly in the keV to hundreds of keV ion energies. Aims: We experimentally investigate heavy ion irradiation amorphisation of crystalline ice, at high energies closer to true cosmic rays, and explore the water-ice sputtering yield. Methods: We irradiated thin crystalline ice films with MeV to GeV swift ion beams, produced at the GANIL accelerator. The ice infrared spectral evolution as a function of fluence is monitored with in-situ infrared spectroscopy (induced amorphisation of the initial crystalline state into a compact amorphous phase). Results: The crystalline ice amorphisation cross-section is measured in the high electronic stopping-power range for different temperatures. At large fluence, the ice sputtering is measured on the infrared spectra, and the fitted sputtering-yield dependence, combined with previous measurements, is quadratic over three decades of electronic stopping power. Conclusions: The final state of cosmic ray irradiation for porous amorphous and crystalline ice, as monitored by infrared spectroscopy, is the same, but with a large difference in cross-section, hence in time scale in an astrophysical context. The cosmic ray water-ice sputtering rates compete with the UV photodesorption yields reported in the literature. The prevalence of direct cosmic ray sputtering over cosmic-ray induced photons photodesorption may be particularly true for ices strongly bonded to the ice mantles surfaces, such as hydrogen-bonded ice structures or more generally the so-called polar ices. Experiments performed at the Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL) Caen, France. Part of this work has been financed by the French INSU-CNRS programme "Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire" (PCMI) and the ANR IGLIAS.

  15. Water Ice Clouds and Dust in the Martian Atmosphere Observed by Mars Climate Sounder

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Benson, Jennifer L.; Kass, David; Heavens, Nicholas; Kleinbohl, Armin

    2011-01-01

    The water ice clouds are primarily controlled by the temperature structure and form at the water condensation level. Clouds in all regions presented show day/night differences. Cloud altitude varies between night and day in the SPH and tropics: (1) NPH water ice opacity is greater at night than day at some seasons (2) The diurnal thermal tide controls the daily variability. (3) Strong day/night changes indicate that the amount of gas in the atmosphere varies significantly. See significant mixtures of dust and ice at the same altitude planet-wide (1) Points to a complex radiative and thermal balance between dust heating (in the visible) and ice heating or cooling in the infrared. Aerosol layering: (1) Early seasons reveal a zonally banded spatial distribution (2) Some localized longitudinal structure of aerosol layers (3) Later seasons show no consistent large scale organization

  16. Tracing Water Vapor and Ice During Dust Growth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krijt, Sebastiaan; Ciesla, Fred J.; Bergin, Edwin A.

    2016-12-01

    The processes that govern the evolution of dust and water (in the form of vapor or ice) in protoplanetary disks are intimately connected. We have developed a model that simulates dust coagulation, dust dynamics (settling, turbulent mixing), vapor diffusion, and condensation/sublimation of volatiles onto grains in a vertical column of a protoplanetary disk. We employ the model to study how dust growth and dynamics influence the vertical distribution of water vapor and water ice in the region just outside the radial snowline. Our main finding is that coagulation (boosted by the enhanced stickiness of icy grains) and the ensuing vertical settling of solids results in water vapor being depleted, but not totally removed, from the region above the snowline on a timescale commensurate with the vertical turbulent mixing timescale. Depending on the strength of the turbulence and the temperature, the depletion can reach factors of up to ˜50 in the disk atmosphere. In our isothermal column, this vapor depletion results in the vertical snowline moving closer to the midplane (by up to 2 gas scale heights) and the gas-phase {{C}}/{{O}} ratio above the vertical snowline increasing. Our findings illustrate the importance of dynamical effects and the need for understanding coevolutionary dynamics of gas and solids in planet-forming environments.

  17. Geomorphological evidence for ground ice on dwarf planet Ceres

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Schmidt, Britney E.; Hughson, Kynan H.G.; Chilton, Heather T.; Scully, Jennifer E. C.; Platz, Thomas; Nathues, Andreas; Sizemore, Hanna; Bland, Michael T.; Byrne, Shane; Marchi, Simone; O'Brien, David; Schorghofer, Norbert; Hiesinger, Harald; Jaumann, Ralf; Hendrick Pasckert, Jan; Lawrence, Justin D.; Buzckowski, Debra; Castillo-Rogez, Julie C.; Sykes, Mark V.; Schenk, Paul M.; DeSanctis, Maria-Cristina; Mitri, Giuseppe; Formisano, Michelangelo; Li, Jian-Yang; Reddy, Vishnu; Le Corre, Lucille; Russell, Christopher T.; Raymond, Carol A.

    2017-01-01

    Five decades of observations of Ceres suggest that the dwarf planet has a composition similar to carbonaceous meteorites and may have an ice-rich outer shell protected by a silicate layer. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has detected ubiquitous clays, carbonates and other products of aqueous alteration across the surface of Ceres, but surprisingly it has directly observed water ice in only a few areas. Here we use Dawn Framing Camera observations to analyse lobate morphologies on Ceres’ surface and we infer the presence of ice in the upper few kilometres of Ceres. We identify three distinct lobate morphologies that we interpret as surface flows: thick tongue-shaped, furrowed flows on steep slopes; thin, spatulate flows on shallow slopes; and cuspate sheeted flows that appear fluidized. The shapes and aspect ratios of these flows are different from those of dry landslides—including those on ice-poor Vesta—but are morphologically similar to ice-rich flows on other bodies, indicating the involvement of ice. Based on the geomorphology and poleward increase in prevalence of these flows, we suggest that the shallow subsurface of Ceres is comprised of mixtures of silicates and ice, and that ice is most abundant near the poles.

  18. Where's the Water in (Salty) Ice?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kahan, T.; Malley, P.

    2017-12-01

    Solutes can have large effects on reactivity in ice and at ice surfaces. Freeze concentration ("the salting out effect") forms liquid regions containing high solute concentrations surrounded by relatively solute-free ice. Thermodynamics can predict the fraction of ice that is liquid for a given temperature and (pre-frozen) solute concentration, as well as the solute concentration within these liquid regions, but they do not inform on the spatial distribution of the solutes and the liquid regions within the ice. This leads to significant uncertainty in predictions of reaction kinetics in ice and at ice surfaces. We have used Raman microscopy to determine the location of liquid regions within ice and at ice surface in the presence of sodium chloride (NaCl). Under most conditions, liquid channels are observed at the ice surface and throughout the ice bulk. The fraction of the ice that is liquid, as well as the widths of these channels, increases with increasing temperature. Below the eutectic temperature (-21.1 oC), no liquid is observed. Patches of NaCl.2H2O ("hydrohalite") are observed at the ice surface under these conditions. These results will improve predictions of reaction kinetics in ice and at ice surfaces.

  19. Oxo Crater on (1) Ceres: Geological History and the Role of Water-ice

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nathues, A.; Platz, T.; Hoffmann, M.

    Dwarf planet Ceres (∅ ∼ 940 km) is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Investigations suggest that Ceres is a thermally evolved, volatile-rich body with potential geological activity, a body that was never completely molten, but one that possibly partially differentiated into a rocky core and an ice-rich mantle, and may contain remnant internal liquid water. Thermal alteration and the infall of exogenic material contribute to producing a (dark) carbonaceous chondritic-like surface containing ammoniated phyllosilicates. Here we report imaging and spectroscopic analyses of data on the bright Oxo crater derived from the Framing Camera and the Visible andmore » Infrared Spectrometer on board the Dawn spacecraft. We confirm that the transitional complex crater Oxo (∅ ∼ 9 km) exhibits exposed surface water-ice. We show that this water-ice-rich material is associated exclusively with two lobate deposits at pole-facing scarps, deposits that also contain carbonates and admixed phyllosilicates. Due to Oxo’s location at −4802 m below the cerean reference ellipsoid and its very young age of only 190 ka (1 σ : +100 ka, −70 ka), Oxo is predestined for ongoing water-ice sublimation.« less

  20. Thermodynamical effects accompanied freezing of two water layers separated by sea ice sheet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bogorodsky, Petr; Marchenko, Aleksey

    2014-05-01

    The process of melt pond freezing is very important for generation of sea ice cover thermodynamic and mass balance during winterperiod. However, due to significant difficulties of field measurements the available data of model estimations still have no instrumental confirmation. In May 2009 the authors carried out laboratory experiment on freezing of limited water volume in the University Centre in Svalbard ice tank. In the course of experiment fresh water layer of 27.5 cm thickness at freezing point poured on the 24 cm sea ice layer was cooled during 50 hours at the temperature -10º C and then once again during 60 hours at -20º C. For revealing process typical characteristics the data of continuous measurements of temperature and salinity in different phases were compared with data of numerical computations obtained with thermodynamic model which was formulated in the frames of 1-D equation system (infinite extension of water freezing layer) and adapted to laboratory conditions. The known surprise of the experiment became proximity of calculated and measured estimates of process dynamics that confirmed the adequacy of the problem mathematical statement (excluding probably process finale stage). This effect can be explained by formation of cracks on the upper layer of ice at sharp decreases of air temperature, which temporary compensated hydrostatic pressure growth during freezing of closed water volume. Another compensated mechanism can be migration of brine through the lower layer of ice under influence of vertical pressure gradient and also rejection of gas dissolved in water which increased its compressibility. During 110 hours cooling thickness of water layer between ice layers reduced approximately to 2 cm. According to computations this layer is not chilled completely but keeps as thin brine interlayer within ice body whose thickness (about units of mm) is determined by temperature fluctuations of cooled surface. Nevertheless, despite good coincidence of

  1. A physically constrained classical description of the homogeneous nucleation of ice in water.

    PubMed

    Koop, Thomas; Murray, Benjamin J

    2016-12-07

    Liquid water can persist in a supercooled state to below 238 K in the Earth's atmosphere, a temperature range where homogeneous nucleation becomes increasingly probable. However, the rate of homogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water is poorly constrained, in part, because supercooled water eludes experimental scrutiny in the region of the homogeneous nucleation regime where it can exist only fleetingly. Here we present a new parameterization of the rate of homogeneous ice nucleation based on classical nucleation theory. In our approach, we constrain the key terms in classical theory, i.e., the diffusion activation energy and the ice-liquid interfacial energy, with physically consistent parameterizations of the pertinent quantities. The diffusion activation energy is related to the translational self-diffusion coefficient of water for which we assess a range of descriptions and conclude that the most physically consistent fit is provided by a power law. The other key term is the interfacial energy between the ice embryo and supercooled water whose temperature dependence we constrain using the Turnbull correlation, which relates the interfacial energy to the difference in enthalpy between the solid and liquid phases. The only adjustable parameter in our model is the absolute value of the interfacial energy at one reference temperature. That value is determined by fitting this classical model to a selection of laboratory homogeneous ice nucleation data sets between 233.6 K and 238.5 K. On extrapolation to temperatures below 233 K, into a range not accessible to standard techniques, we predict that the homogeneous nucleation rate peaks between about 227 and 231 K at a maximum nucleation rate many orders of magnitude lower than previous parameterizations suggest. This extrapolation to temperatures below 233 K is consistent with the most recent measurement of the ice nucleation rate in micrometer-sized droplets at temperatures of 227-232 K on very short time scales

  2. Freshening by glacial meltwater enhances melting of ice shelves and reduces formation of Antarctic Bottom Water

    PubMed Central

    van Wijk, Esmee

    2018-01-01

    Strong heat loss and brine release during sea ice formation in coastal polynyas act to cool and salinify waters on the Antarctic continental shelf. Polynya activity thus both limits the ocean heat flux to the Antarctic Ice Sheet and promotes formation of Dense Shelf Water (DSW), the precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water. However, despite the presence of strong polynyas, DSW is not formed on the Sabrina Coast in East Antarctica and in the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. Using a simple ocean model driven by observed forcing, we show that freshwater input from basal melt of ice shelves partially offsets the salt flux by sea ice formation in polynyas found in both regions, preventing full-depth convection and formation of DSW. In the absence of deep convection, warm water that reaches the continental shelf in the bottom layer does not lose much heat to the atmosphere and is thus available to drive the rapid basal melt observed at the Totten Ice Shelf on the Sabrina Coast and at the Dotson and Getz ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea. Our results suggest that increased glacial meltwater input in a warming climate will both reduce Antarctic Bottom Water formation and trigger increased mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, with consequences for the global overturning circulation and sea level rise. PMID:29675467

  3. Freshening by glacial meltwater enhances melting of ice shelves and reduces formation of Antarctic Bottom Water.

    PubMed

    Silvano, Alessandro; Rintoul, Stephen Rich; Peña-Molino, Beatriz; Hobbs, William Richard; van Wijk, Esmee; Aoki, Shigeru; Tamura, Takeshi; Williams, Guy Darvall

    2018-04-01

    Strong heat loss and brine release during sea ice formation in coastal polynyas act to cool and salinify waters on the Antarctic continental shelf. Polynya activity thus both limits the ocean heat flux to the Antarctic Ice Sheet and promotes formation of Dense Shelf Water (DSW), the precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water. However, despite the presence of strong polynyas, DSW is not formed on the Sabrina Coast in East Antarctica and in the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. Using a simple ocean model driven by observed forcing, we show that freshwater input from basal melt of ice shelves partially offsets the salt flux by sea ice formation in polynyas found in both regions, preventing full-depth convection and formation of DSW. In the absence of deep convection, warm water that reaches the continental shelf in the bottom layer does not lose much heat to the atmosphere and is thus available to drive the rapid basal melt observed at the Totten Ice Shelf on the Sabrina Coast and at the Dotson and Getz ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea. Our results suggest that increased glacial meltwater input in a warming climate will both reduce Antarctic Bottom Water formation and trigger increased mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, with consequences for the global overturning circulation and sea level rise.

  4. High Ice Water Concentrations in the 19 August 2015 Coastal Mesoconvective System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Proctor, Fred H.; Harrah, Steven; Switzer, George F.; Strickland, Justin K.; Hunt, Patricia J.

    2017-01-01

    During August 2015, NASA's DC-8 research aircraft was flown into High Ice Water Content (HIWC) events as part of a three-week campaign to collect airborne radar data and to obtain measurements from microphysical probes. Goals for this flight campaign included improved characterization of HIWC events, especially from an airborne radar perspective. This paper focuses on one of the flight days, in which a coastal mesoscale convective system (MCS) was investigated for HIWC conditions. The system appears to have been maintained by bands of convection flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico. These convective bands were capped by a large cloud canopy, which masks the underlying structure if viewed from an infrared sensing satellite. The DC-8 was equipped with an IsoKinetic Probe that measured ice concentrations of up to 2.3 g m(exp -3) within the cloud canopy of this system. Sustained measurements of ice crystals with concentrations exceeding 1 g m(exp -3) were encountered for up to ten minutes of flight time. Airborne Radar reflectivity factors were found to be weak within these regions of high ice water concentrations, suggesting that Radar detection of HIWC would be a challenging endeavor. This case is then investigated using a three-dimensional numerical cloud model. Profiles of ice water concentrations and radar reflectivity factor demonstrate similar magnitudes and scales between the flight measurements and model simulation. Also discussed are recent modifications to the numerical model's ice-microphysics that are based on measurements during the flight campaign. The numerical model and its updated ice-microphysics are further validated with a simulation of a well-known case of a supercell hailstorm measured during the Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment. Differences in HIWC between the continental supercell and the coastal MCS are discussed.

  5. Ice-Accretion Scaling Using Water-Film Thickness Parameters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Anderson, David N.; Feo, Alejandro

    2003-01-01

    Studies were performed at INTA in Spain to determine water-film thickness on a stagnation-point probe inserted in a simulated cloud. The measurements were correlated with non-dimensional parameters describing the flow and the cloud conditions. Icing scaling tests in the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel were then conducted using the Ruff scaling method with the scale velocity found by matching scale and reference values of either the INTA non-dimensional water-film thickness or a Weber number based on that film thickness. For comparison, tests were also performed using the constant drop-size Weber number and the average-velocity methods. The reference and scale models were both aluminum, 61-cm-span, NACA 0012 airfoil sections at 0 deg. AOA. The reference had a 53-cm-chord and the scale, 27 cm (1/2 size). Both models were mounted vertically in the center of the IRT test section. Tests covered a freezing fraction range of 0.28 to 1.0. Rime ice (n = 1.0) tests showed the consistency of the IRT calibration over a range of velocities. At a freezing fraction of 0.76, there was no significant difference in the scale ice shapes produced by the different methods. For freezing fractions of 0.40, 0.52 and 0.61, somewhat better agreement with the reference horn angles was typically achieved with the average-velocity and constant-film thickness methods than when either of the two Weber numbers was matched to the reference value. At a freezing fraction of 0.28, the four methods were judged equal in providing simulations of the reference shape.

  6. Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.; Kahre, Melinda A.; Haberle, Robert; Atsuki Urata, Richard

    2016-10-01

    Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems. Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic-period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation

  7. Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hollingsworth, Jeffery; Kahre, Melinda; Haberle, Robert; Urata, Richard

    2017-01-01

    Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems. Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation

  8. Synoptic Traveling Weather Systems on Mars: Effects of Radiatively-Active Water Ice Clouds

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hollingsworth, Jeffery; Kahre, Melinda; Haberle, Robert; Urata, Richard

    2017-01-01

    Atmospheric aerosols on Mars are critical in determining the nature of its thermal structure, its large-scale circulation, and hence the overall climate of the planet. We conduct multi-annual simulations with the latest version of the NASA Ames Mars global climate model (GCM), gcm2.3+, that includes a modernized radiative-transfer package and complex water-ice cloud microphysics package which permit radiative effects and interactions of suspended atmospheric aerosols (e.g., water ice clouds, water vapor, dust, and mutual interactions) to influence the net diabatic heating. Results indicate that radiatively active water ice clouds profoundly affect the seasonal and annual mean climate. The mean thermal structure and balanced circulation patterns are strongly modified near the surface and aloft. Warming of the subtropical atmosphere at altitude and cooling of the high latitude atmosphere at low levels takes place, which increases the mean pole-to-equator temperature contrast (i.e., "baroclinicity"). With radiatively active water ice clouds (RAC) compared to radiatively inert water ice clouds (nonRAC), significant changes in the intensity of the mean state and forced stationary Rossby modes occur, both of which affect the vigor and intensity of traveling, synoptic period weather systems.Such weather systems not only act as key agents in the transport of heat and momentum beyond the extent of the Hadley circulation, but also the transport of trace species such as water vapor, water ice-clouds, dust and others. The northern hemisphere (NH) forced Rossby waves and resultant wave train are augmented in the RAC case: the modes are more intense and the wave train is shifted equatorward. Significant changes also occur within the subtropics and tropics. The Rossby wave train sets up, combined with the traveling synoptic period weather systems (i.e., cyclones and anticyclones), the geographic extent of storm zones (or storm tracks) within the NH. A variety of circulation

  9. In situ expression of eukaryotic ice-binding proteins in microbial communities of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice.

    PubMed

    Uhlig, Christiane; Kilpert, Fabian; Frickenhaus, Stephan; Kegel, Jessica U; Krell, Andreas; Mock, Thomas; Valentin, Klaus; Beszteri, Bánk

    2015-11-01

    Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) have been isolated from various sea-ice organisms. Their characterisation points to a crucial role in protecting the organisms in sub-zero environments. However, their in situ abundance and diversity in natural sea-ice microbial communities is largely unknown. In this study, we analysed the expression and phylogenetic diversity of eukaryotic IBP transcripts from microbial communities of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. IBP transcripts were found in abundances similar to those of proteins involved in core cellular processes such as photosynthesis. Eighty-nine percent of the IBP transcripts grouped with known IBP sequences from diatoms, haptophytes and crustaceans, but the majority represented novel sequences not previously characterized in cultured organisms. The observed high eukaryotic IBP expression in natural eukaryotic sea ice communities underlines the essential role of IBPs for survival of many microorganisms in communities living under the extreme conditions of polar sea ice.

  10. A New Way to Measure Cirrus Ice Water Content by Using Ice Raman Scatter with Raman Lidar

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, Zhien; Whiteman, David N.; Demoz, Belay; Veselovskii, Igor

    2004-01-01

    High and cold cirrus clouds mainly contain irregular ice crystals, such as, columns, hexagonal plates, bullet rosettes, and dendrites, and have different impacts on the climate system than low-level clouds, such as stratus, stratocumulus, and cumulus. The radiative effects of cirrus clouds on the current and future climate depend strongly on cirrus cloud microphysical properties including ice water content (IWC) and ice crystal sizes, which are mostly an unknown aspect of cinus clouds. Because of the natural complexity of cirrus clouds and their high locations, it is a challenging task to get them accurately by both remote sensing and in situ sampling. This study presents a new method to remotely sense cirrus microphysical properties by using ice Raman scatter with a Raman lidar. The intensity of Raman scattering is fundamentally proportional to the number of molecules involved. Therefore, ice Raman scattering signal provides a more direct way to measure IWC than other remote sensing methods. Case studies show that this method has the potential to provide essential information of cirrus microphysical properties to study cloud physical processes in cirrus clouds.

  11. viral abundance distribution in deep waters of the Northern of South China Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Lei; Yin, Kedong

    2017-04-01

    Little is known about the vertical distribution and interaction of viruses and bacteria in the deep ocean water column. The vertical distribution of viral-like particles and bacterial abundance was investigated in the deep water column in the South China Sea during September 2005 along with salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen. There were double maxima in the ratio of viral to bacterial abundance (VBR) in the water column: the subsurface maximum located at 50-100 m near the pycnocline layer, and the deep maximum at 800-1000 m. At the subsurface maximum of VBR, both viral and bacterial abundance were maximal in the water column, and at the deep maximum of VBR, both viral and bacterial abundance were low, but bacterial abundance was relatively lower than viral abundance. The subsurface VBR maximum coincided with the subsurface chlorophyll maximum while the deep VBR maximum coincided with the minimum in dissolved oxygen (2.91mg L-1). Therefore, we hypothesize that the two maxima were formed by different mechanisms. The subsurface VBR maximum was formed due to an increase in bacterial abundance resulting from the stimulation of abundant organic supply at the subsurface chlorophyll maximum, whereas the deep VBR maximum was formed due to a decrease in bacterial abundance caused by more limitation of organic matter at the oxygen minimum. The evidence suggests that viruses play an important role in controlling bacterial abundance in the deep water column due to the limitation of organic matter supply. In turn, this slows down the formation of the oxygen minimum in which oxygen may be otherwise lower. The mechanism has a great implication that viruses could control bacterial decomposition of organic matter, oxygen consumption and nutrient remineralization in the deep oceans.

  12. MORICE--new technology for mechanical oil recovery in ice infested waters.

    PubMed

    Jensen, Hans V; Mullin, Joseph V

    2003-01-01

    Mechanical oil recovery in ice infested waters (MORICE) was initiated in 1995 to develop technology for the recovery of oil spills in ice. It has been a multinational effort involving Norwegian, Canadian, American and German organizations and researchers. Through a stepwise approach with the development organized in six separate phases, laboratory tests and field experiments have been conducted to study various ideas and concepts, and to refine the ideas that were considered to have the best potential for removing oil in ice. Put together in one unit, these concepts included ice processing equipment and two alternative oil recovery units installed on a work platform. In January 2002, the final oil and ice testing with MORICE concepts was conducted at the Ohmsett test facility in Leonardo, New Jersey. The unit has been referred to as a harbor version to indicate the size and operating conditions, but the concepts could be scaled up to increase the capacity of oil and ice processing. For heavier ice conditions it would also be necessary to increase the overall strength.

  13. West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat driven by Holocene warm water incursions.

    PubMed

    Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter; Smith, James A; Hodell, David A; Greaves, Mervyn; Poole, Christopher R; Kender, Sev; Williams, Mark; Andersen, Thorbjørn Joest; Jernas, Patrycja E; Elderfield, Henry; Klages, Johann P; Roberts, Stephen J; Gohl, Karsten; Larter, Robert D; Kuhn, Gerhard

    2017-07-05

    Glaciological and oceanographic observations coupled with numerical models show that warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) incursions onto the West Antarctic continental shelf cause melting of the undersides of floating ice shelves. Because these ice shelves buttress glaciers feeding into them, their ocean-induced thinning is driving Antarctic ice-sheet retreat today. Here we present a multi-proxy data based reconstruction of variability in CDW inflow to the Amundsen Sea sector, the most vulnerable part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, during the Holocene epoch (from 11.7 thousand years ago to the present). The chemical compositions of foraminifer shells and benthic foraminifer assemblages in marine sediments indicate that enhanced CDW upwelling, controlled by the latitudinal position of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds, forced deglaciation of this sector from at least 10,400 years ago until 7,500 years ago-when an ice-shelf collapse may have caused rapid ice-sheet thinning further upstream-and since the 1940s. These results increase confidence in the predictive capability of current ice-sheet models.

  14. Direct calculation of ice homogeneous nucleation rate for a molecular model of water.

    PubMed

    Haji-Akbari, Amir; Debenedetti, Pablo G

    2015-08-25

    Ice formation is ubiquitous in nature, with important consequences in a variety of environments, including biological cells, soil, aircraft, transportation infrastructure, and atmospheric clouds. However, its intrinsic kinetics and microscopic mechanism are difficult to discern with current experiments. Molecular simulations of ice nucleation are also challenging, and direct rate calculations have only been performed for coarse-grained models of water. For molecular models, only indirect estimates have been obtained, e.g., by assuming the validity of classical nucleation theory. We use a path sampling approach to perform, to our knowledge, the first direct rate calculation of homogeneous nucleation of ice in a molecular model of water. We use TIP4P/Ice, the most accurate among existing molecular models for studying ice polymorphs. By using a novel topological approach to distinguish different polymorphs, we are able to identify a freezing mechanism that involves a competition between cubic and hexagonal ice in the early stages of nucleation. In this competition, the cubic polymorph takes over because the addition of new topological structural motifs consistent with cubic ice leads to the formation of more compact crystallites. This is not true for topological hexagonal motifs, which give rise to elongated crystallites that are not able to grow. This leads to transition states that are rich in cubic ice, and not the thermodynamically stable hexagonal polymorph. This mechanism provides a molecular explanation for the earlier experimental and computational observations of the preference for cubic ice in the literature.

  15. Direct calculation of ice homogeneous nucleation rate for a molecular model of water

    PubMed Central

    Haji-Akbari, Amir; Debenedetti, Pablo G.

    2015-01-01

    Ice formation is ubiquitous in nature, with important consequences in a variety of environments, including biological cells, soil, aircraft, transportation infrastructure, and atmospheric clouds. However, its intrinsic kinetics and microscopic mechanism are difficult to discern with current experiments. Molecular simulations of ice nucleation are also challenging, and direct rate calculations have only been performed for coarse-grained models of water. For molecular models, only indirect estimates have been obtained, e.g., by assuming the validity of classical nucleation theory. We use a path sampling approach to perform, to our knowledge, the first direct rate calculation of homogeneous nucleation of ice in a molecular model of water. We use TIP4P/Ice, the most accurate among existing molecular models for studying ice polymorphs. By using a novel topological approach to distinguish different polymorphs, we are able to identify a freezing mechanism that involves a competition between cubic and hexagonal ice in the early stages of nucleation. In this competition, the cubic polymorph takes over because the addition of new topological structural motifs consistent with cubic ice leads to the formation of more compact crystallites. This is not true for topological hexagonal motifs, which give rise to elongated crystallites that are not able to grow. This leads to transition states that are rich in cubic ice, and not the thermodynamically stable hexagonal polymorph. This mechanism provides a molecular explanation for the earlier experimental and computational observations of the preference for cubic ice in the literature. PMID:26240318

  16. Ice Front at Venable Ice Shelf

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2013-06-13

    This photo, taken onboard the Chilean Navy P3 aircraft, shows the ice front of Venable Ice Shelf, West Antarctica, in October 2008. It is an example of a small-size ice shelf that is a large melt water producer.

  17. Design of ice-free nanostructured surfaces based on repulsion of impacting water droplets.

    PubMed

    Mishchenko, Lidiya; Hatton, Benjamin; Bahadur, Vaibhav; Taylor, J Ashley; Krupenkin, Tom; Aizenberg, Joanna

    2010-12-28

    Materials that control ice accumulation are important to aircraft efficiency, highway and powerline maintenance, and building construction. Most current deicing systems include either physical or chemical removal of ice, both energy and resource-intensive. A more desirable approach would be to prevent ice formation rather than to fight its build-up. Much attention has been given recently to freezing of static water droplets resting on supercooled surfaces. Ice accretion, however, begins with the droplet/substrate collision followed by freezing. Here we focus on the behavior of dynamic droplets impacting supercooled nano- and microstructured surfaces. Detailed experimental analysis of the temperature-dependent droplet/surface interaction shows that highly ordered superhydrophobic materials can be designed to remain entirely ice-free down to ca. -25 to -30 °C, due to their ability to repel impacting water before ice nucleation occurs. Ice accumulated below these temperatures can be easily removed. Factors contributing to droplet retraction, pinning and freezing are addressed by combining classical nucleation theory with heat transfer and wetting dynamics, forming the foundation for the development of rationally designed ice-preventive materials. In particular, we emphasize the potential of hydrophobic polymeric coatings bearing closed-cell surface microstructures for their improved mechanical and pressure stability, amenability to facile replication and large-scale fabrication, and opportunities for greater tuning of their material and chemical properties.

  18. The use of sea ice habitat by female polar bears in the Beaufort Sea

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durner, George M.; Amstrup, Steven C.; Nielson, Ryan M.; McDonald, Trent

    2003-01-01

    Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) depend on ice-covered seas to satisfy life history requirements. Modern threats to polar bears include oil spills in the marine environment and changes in ice composition resulting from climate change. Managers need practical models that explain the distribution of bears in order to assess the impacts of these threats. We used stepwise procedures to create resource selection models of habitat use for radio-collared female polar bears in the Beaufort Sea. Sea ice characteristics and ocean depths at known polar bear locations were compared to the same features at randomly selected locations. Models generated for each of four seasons confirmed complexities of habitat use by polar bears and their response to numerous factors. Bears preferred shallow water areas where ice concentrations were > 80 % and different ice types intersected. Variation among seasons was reflected mainly in differential selection of ice stages, floe sizes, and their interactions. Water depth, total ice concentration and distance to the nearest interface between different ice types were significant terms in models for most seasons. Variation in ice stage and form also appeared in three models, and several interaction effects were identified. Habitat selection by polar bears is likely related to prey abundance and availability. Use of habitats in shallow water possibly reflects higher productivity in those areas. Habitat use in close proximity to ice edges is probably related to greater access of prey in those habitats.

  19. Interstellar Dust Models Consistent with Extinction, Emission, and Abundance Constraints

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zubko, Viktor; Dwek, Eli; Arendt, Richard G.

    2004-01-01

    We present new interstellar dust models which have been derived by simultaneously fitting the far ultraviolet to near infrared extinction, the diffuse infrared emission, and, unlike previous models, the elemental abundances in dust for the diffuse interstellar medium. We found that dust models consisting of a mixture of spherical graphite and silicate grains, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules, in addition to porous composite particles containing silicate, organic refractory, and water ice, provide an improved .t to the UV-to-infrared extinction and infrared emission measurements, while consuming the amounts of elements well within the uncertainties of adopted interstellar abundances, including B star abundances. These models are a signi.cant improvement over the recent Li & Draine (2001, ApJ, 554, 778) model which requires an excessive amount of silicon to be locked up in dust: 48 ppm (atoms per million of H atoms), considerably more than the solar abundance of 34 ppm or the B star abundance of 19 ppm.

  20. The study of fresh-water lake ice using multiplexed imaging radar

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Leonard, Bryan M.; Larson, R.W.

    1975-01-01

    The study of ice in the upper Great Lakes, both from the operational and the scientific points of view, is receiving continued attention. Quantitative and qualitative field work is being conducted to provide the needed background for accurate interpretation of remotely sensed data. The data under discussion in this paper were obtained by a side-looking multiplexed airborne radar (SLAR) supplemented with ground-truth data.Because of its ability to penetrate adverse weather, radar is an especially important instrument for monitoring ice in the upper Great Lakes. It has previously been shown that imaging radars can provide maps of ice cover in these areas. However, questions concerning both the nature of the surfaces reflecting radar energy and the interpretation of the radar imagery continually arise.Our analysis of ice in Whitefish Bay (Lake Superior) indicates that the combination of the ice/water interlace and the ice/air interface is the major contributor to the radar backscatter as seen on the imagery At these frequencies the ice has a very low relative dielectric permittivity (< 3.0) and a low loss tangent Thus, this ice is somewhat transparent to the energy used by the imaging SLAR system. The ice types studied include newly formed black ice, pancake ice, and frozen and consolidated pack and brash ice.Although ice thickness cannot be measured directly from the received signals, it is suspected that by combining the information pertaining to radar backscatter with data on the meteorological and sea-state history of the area, together with some basic ground truth, better estimates of the ice thickness may be provided. In addition, certain ice features (e.g. ridges, ice-foot formation, areas of brash ice) may be identified with reasonable confidence. There is a continued need for additional ground work to verify the validity of imaging radars for these types of interpretations.

  1. Up-going Red Water in the Ice at the Bottom of the World: Picture Taking Boxes and Listening Boxes Tell Us How and Why

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carr, C. G.; Pettit, E. C.

    2017-12-01

    Blood Falls is a place where red water comes out from under ice to the top of the ice and makes a strange red water fall. This ice is part of the big ice at the bottom of the world. The red water only comes out at some times and not every year, but it always comes out at the same place. The red water is important because it has tiny tiny not-animal life that tells us how life could be on other worlds. Knowing about the ice and red water is important because this ice is cold, colder than other ice in other places, and we want to know how water can get through. We didn't know why the red water comes up from under the ice when it does or how. We wanted to understand how the ice breaks and we watched the ice by taking pictures all year to see when the red water comes out. We found out that in the cold part of one year, the red water came out even though the air was not warm enough for water to be water! We think the red water comes out because the red water is blocked under the heavy ice and gets pushed tight. In the cold part of the year, cracks break down from the air into the ice and other cracks break up from under the ice because the red water is so pushed. The cracks from the top and bottom of the ice join, and the red water comes out. We used listening boxes that can feel how the ground moves to understand that the ice is breaking at the bottom and we can see that it breaks at the top of the ice. The red water can stay water and not ice inside the big ice because the red water has tiny pieces of the same stuff that can turn ice into water on the roads. If the ice breaks in the cold time, no water can get in from the top of the ice, so the red water under the ice stays clean from the air water. If the ice breaks in the warm time of year, water could get in from the top of the ice and make the red water under the ice not clean from the air. Since we saw in our pictures that the red water came out in the cold time of year, this means the red water could stay clean

  2. Solid-liquid interfacial free energy of ice Ih, ice Ic, and ice 0 within a mono-atomic model of water via the capillary wave method.

    PubMed

    Ambler, Michael; Vorselaars, Bart; Allen, Michael P; Quigley, David

    2017-02-21

    We apply the capillary wave method, based on measurements of fluctuations in a ribbon-like interfacial geometry, to determine the solid-liquid interfacial free energy for both polytypes of ice I and the recently proposed ice 0 within a mono-atomic model of water. We discuss various choices for the molecular order parameter, which distinguishes solid from liquid, and demonstrate the influence of this choice on the interfacial stiffness. We quantify the influence of discretisation error when sampling the interfacial profile and the limits on accuracy imposed by the assumption of quasi one-dimensional geometry. The interfacial free energies of the two ice I polytypes are indistinguishable to within achievable statistical error and the small ambiguity which arises from the choice of order parameter. In the case of ice 0, we find that the large surface unit cell for low index interfaces constrains the width of the interfacial ribbon such that the accuracy of results is reduced. Nevertheless, we establish that the interfacial free energy of ice 0 at its melting temperature is similar to that of ice I under the same conditions. The rationality of a core-shell model for the nucleation of ice I within ice 0 is questioned within the context of our results.

  3. The Detection of Water Ice in Comet Hale-Bopp

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davies, John K.; Roush, Ted L.; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Bartholomew, Mary Jane; Geballe, Thomas R.; Owen, Tobias

    1996-01-01

    We present spectra of Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 01) covering the range 1.4-2.5 micron that were recorded when the comet was 7 AU from the Sun. These show I)road absorption features at 1.5 and 2.05 micron. We show that some, but not all, of this absorption could be matched by an intimate mixture of water ice and a low albedo material such as carbon on the nucleus. However, we recognize that it is more likely that the ice features are produced by scattering from icy grains in the coma. The absence of absorption at 1.65 micron suggests that this ice is probably in the amorphous state. An unidentified additional component may be required to account for the downward slope at the longwavelength end of the spectrum.

  4. Computational studies of atmospherically-relevant chemical reactions in water clusters and on liquid water and ice surfaces.

    PubMed

    Gerber, R Benny; Varner, Mychel E; Hammerich, Audrey D; Riikonen, Sampsa; Murdachaew, Garold; Shemesh, Dorit; Finlayson-Pitts, Barbara J

    2015-02-17

    CONSPECTUS: Reactions on water and ice surfaces and in other aqueous media are ubiquitous in the atmosphere, but the microscopic mechanisms of most of these processes are as yet unknown. This Account examines recent progress in atomistic simulations of such reactions and the insights provided into mechanisms and interpretation of experiments. Illustrative examples are discussed. The main computational approaches employed are classical trajectory simulations using interaction potentials derived from quantum chemical methods. This comprises both ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) and semiempirical molecular dynamics (SEMD), the latter referring to semiempirical quantum chemical methods. Presented examples are as follows: (i) Reaction of the (NO(+))(NO3(-)) ion pair with a water cluster to produce the atmospherically important HONO and HNO3. The simulations show that a cluster with four water molecules describes the reaction. This provides a hydrogen-bonding network supporting the transition state. The reaction is triggered by thermal structural fluctuations, and ultrafast changes in atomic partial charges play a key role. This is an example where a reaction in a small cluster can provide a model for a corresponding bulk process. The results support the proposed mechanism for production of HONO by hydrolysis of NO2 (N2O4). (ii) The reactions of gaseous HCl with N2O4 and N2O5 on liquid water surfaces. Ionization of HCl at the water/air interface is followed by nucleophilic attack of Cl(-) on N2O4 or N2O5. Both reactions proceed by an SN2 mechanism. The products are ClNO and ClNO2, precursors of atmospheric atomic chlorine. Because this mechanism cannot result from a cluster too small for HCl ionization, an extended water film model was simulated. The results explain ClNO formation experiments. Predicted ClNO2 formation is less efficient. (iii) Ionization of acids at ice surfaces. No ionization is found on ideal crystalline surfaces, but the process is efficient on

  5. Discovery of water ice nearly everywhere in the solar system

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zuppero, A.

    1995-10-01

    During the last decade we have discovered sources of accessible water in some form nearly everywhere in the solar system. Water ice has been found on the planet Mercury; probably on the Earth`s Moon; on Mars; on near Earth objects; on comets whose orbits frequently come close to that of Earth`s orbit; probably on Ceres, the largest inner asteroid; and on comets previously and incorrectly considered to be out of practical reach. The comets also provide massive quantities of hydrocarbons, similar to oil shale. The masses of either water or hydrocarbons are measured in units of cubic kilometers. The watermore » is key to space transportation because it can be used as a rocket propellant directly, and because thermal process alone can be used to convert it and hydrocarbons into hydrogen, the highest performing rocket propellant. This presentation outlines what is currently known about the locations of the water ice, and sketches the requirements and environments of missions to prospect for and assay the water sources.« less

  6. Detection of abundant ethane and methane, along with carbon monoxide and water, in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake: evidence for interstellar origin

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mumma, M. J.; DiSanti, M. A.; Dello Russo, N.; Fomenkova, M.; Magee-Sauer, K.; Kaminski, C. D.; Xie, D. X.

    1996-01-01

    The saturated hydrocarbons ethane (C2H6) and methane (CH4) along with carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) were detected in comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake with the use of high-resolution infrared spectroscopy at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The inferred production rates of molecular gases from the icy, cometary nucleus (in molecules per second) are 6.4 X 10(26) for C2H6, 1.2 X 10(27) for CH4, 9.8 X 10(27) for CO, and 1.7 X 10(29) for H2O. An abundance of C2H6 comparable to that of CH4 implies that ices in C/1996 B2 Hyakutake did not originate in a thermochemically equilibrated region of the solar nebula. The abundances are consistent with a kinetically controlled production process, but production of C2H6 by gas-phase ion molecule reactions in the natal cloud core is energetically forbidden. The high C2H6/CH4 ratio is consistent with production of C2H6 in icy grain mantles in the natal cloud, either by photolysis of CH4-rich ice or by hydrogen-addition reactions to acetylene condensed from the gas phase.

  7. Ice Clouds in Martian Arctic (Accelerated Movie)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2008-01-01

    Clouds scoot across the Martian sky in a movie clip consisting of 10 frames taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander.

    This clip accelerates the motion. The camera took these 10 frames over a 10-minute period from 2:52 p.m. to 3:02 p.m. local solar time at the Phoenix site during Sol 94 (Aug. 29), the 94th Martian day since landing.

    Particles of water-ice make up these clouds, like ice-crystal cirrus clouds on Earth. Ice hazes have been common at the Phoenix site in recent days.

    The camera took these images as part of a campaign by the Phoenix team to see clouds and track winds. The view is toward slightly west of due south, so the clouds are moving westward or west-northwestward.

    The clouds are a dramatic visualization of the Martian water cycle. The water vapor comes off the north pole during the peak of summer. The northern-Mars summer has just passed its peak water-vapor abundance at the Phoenix site. The atmospheric water is available to form into clouds, fog and frost, such as the lander has been observing recently.

    The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

  8. Nonthermal ice nucleation observed at distorted contact lines of supercooled water drops

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yang, Fan; Cruikshank, Owen; He, Weilue

    Ice nucleation is the crucial step for ice formation in atmospheric clouds and therefore underlies climatologically relevant precipitation and radiative properties. Some progress has been made in understanding the roles of temperature, supersaturation, and material properties, but an explanation for the efficient ice nucleation occurring when a particle contacts a supercooled water drop has been elusive for over half a century. Here, we explore ice nucleation initiated at constant temperature and observe that mechanical agitation induces freezing of supercooled water drops at distorted contact lines. Results show that symmetric motion of supercooled water on a vertically oscillating substrate does notmore » freeze, no matter how we agitate it. However, when the moving contact line is distorted with the help of trace amounts of oil or inhomogeneous pinning on the substrate, freezing can occur at temperatures much higher than in a static droplet, equivalent to ~1010 increase in nucleation rate. Several possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the observations. One plausible explanation among them, decreased pressure due to interface curvature, is explored theoretically and compared with the observational results quasiquantitatively. Indeed, the observed freezing-temperature increase scales with contact line speed in a manner consistent with the pressure hypothesis. Whatever the mechanism, the experiments demonstrate a strong preference for ice nucleation at three-phase contact lines compared to the two-phase interface, and they also show that movement and distortion of the contact line are necessary contributions to stimulating the nucleation process.« less

  9. Nonthermal ice nucleation observed at distorted contact lines of supercooled water drops

    DOE PAGES

    Yang, Fan; Cruikshank, Owen; He, Weilue; ...

    2018-02-06

    Ice nucleation is the crucial step for ice formation in atmospheric clouds and therefore underlies climatologically relevant precipitation and radiative properties. Some progress has been made in understanding the roles of temperature, supersaturation, and material properties, but an explanation for the efficient ice nucleation occurring when a particle contacts a supercooled water drop has been elusive for over half a century. Here, we explore ice nucleation initiated at constant temperature and observe that mechanical agitation induces freezing of supercooled water drops at distorted contact lines. Results show that symmetric motion of supercooled water on a vertically oscillating substrate does notmore » freeze, no matter how we agitate it. However, when the moving contact line is distorted with the help of trace amounts of oil or inhomogeneous pinning on the substrate, freezing can occur at temperatures much higher than in a static droplet, equivalent to ~1010 increase in nucleation rate. Several possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the observations. One plausible explanation among them, decreased pressure due to interface curvature, is explored theoretically and compared with the observational results quasiquantitatively. Indeed, the observed freezing-temperature increase scales with contact line speed in a manner consistent with the pressure hypothesis. Whatever the mechanism, the experiments demonstrate a strong preference for ice nucleation at three-phase contact lines compared to the two-phase interface, and they also show that movement and distortion of the contact line are necessary contributions to stimulating the nucleation process.« less

  10. Nonthermal ice nucleation observed at distorted contact lines of supercooled water drops

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Fan; Cruikshank, Owen; He, Weilue; Kostinski, Alex; Shaw, Raymond A.

    2018-02-01

    Ice nucleation is the crucial step for ice formation in atmospheric clouds and therefore underlies climatologically relevant precipitation and radiative properties. Progress has been made in understanding the roles of temperature, supersaturation, and material properties, but an explanation for the efficient ice nucleation occurring when a particle contacts a supercooled water drop has been elusive for over half a century. Here, we explore ice nucleation initiated at constant temperature and observe that mechanical agitation induces freezing of supercooled water drops at distorted contact lines. Results show that symmetric motion of supercooled water on a vertically oscillating substrate does not freeze, no matter how we agitate it. However, when the moving contact line is distorted with the help of trace amounts of oil or inhomogeneous pinning on the substrate, freezing can occur at temperatures much higher than in a static droplet, equivalent to ˜1010 increase in nucleation rate. Several possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the observations. One plausible explanation among them, decreased pressure due to interface curvature, is explored theoretically and compared with the observational results quasiquantitatively. Indeed, the observed freezing-temperature increase scales with contact line speed in a manner consistent with the pressure hypothesis. Whatever the mechanism, the experiments demonstrate a strong preference for ice nucleation at three-phase contact lines compared to the two-phase interface, and they also show that movement and distortion of the contact line are necessary contributions to stimulating the nucleation process.

  11. Nonthermal ice nucleation observed at distorted contact lines of supercooled water drops.

    PubMed

    Yang, Fan; Cruikshank, Owen; He, Weilue; Kostinski, Alex; Shaw, Raymond A

    2018-02-01

    Ice nucleation is the crucial step for ice formation in atmospheric clouds and therefore underlies climatologically relevant precipitation and radiative properties. Progress has been made in understanding the roles of temperature, supersaturation, and material properties, but an explanation for the efficient ice nucleation occurring when a particle contacts a supercooled water drop has been elusive for over half a century. Here, we explore ice nucleation initiated at constant temperature and observe that mechanical agitation induces freezing of supercooled water drops at distorted contact lines. Results show that symmetric motion of supercooled water on a vertically oscillating substrate does not freeze, no matter how we agitate it. However, when the moving contact line is distorted with the help of trace amounts of oil or inhomogeneous pinning on the substrate, freezing can occur at temperatures much higher than in a static droplet, equivalent to ∼10^{10} increase in nucleation rate. Several possible mechanisms are proposed to explain the observations. One plausible explanation among them, decreased pressure due to interface curvature, is explored theoretically and compared with the observational results quasiquantitatively. Indeed, the observed freezing-temperature increase scales with contact line speed in a manner consistent with the pressure hypothesis. Whatever the mechanism, the experiments demonstrate a strong preference for ice nucleation at three-phase contact lines compared to the two-phase interface, and they also show that movement and distortion of the contact line are necessary contributions to stimulating the nucleation process.

  12. Polar bear and walrus response to the rapid decline in Arctic sea ice

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Oakley, K.; Whalen, M.; Douglas, David C.; Udevitz, Mark S.; Atwood, Todd C.; Jay, C.

    2012-01-01

    The Arctic is warming faster than other regions of the world due to positive climate feedbacks associated with loss of snow and ice. One highly visible consequence has been a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice over the past 3 decades - a decline projected to continue and result in ice-free summers likely as soon as 2030. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) are dependent on sea ice over the continental shelves of the Arctic Ocean's marginal seas. The continental shelves are shallow regions with high biological productivity, supporting abundant marine life within the water column and on the sea floor. Polar bears use sea ice as a platform for hunting ice seals; walruses use sea ice as a resting platform between dives to forage for clams and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates. How have sea ice changes affected polar bears and walruses? How will anticipated changes affect them in the future?

  13. Dissolved and particulate trace metal micronutrients under the McMurdo Sound seasonal sea ice: basal sea ice communities as a capacitor for iron

    PubMed Central

    Noble, Abigail E.; Moran, Dawn M.; Allen, Andrew E.; Saito, Mak A.

    2013-01-01

    Dissolved and particulate metal concentrations are reported from three sites beneath and at the base of the McMurdo Sound seasonal sea ice in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. This dataset provided insight into Co and Mn biogeochemistry, supporting a previous hypothesis for water column mixing occurring faster than scavenging. Three observations support this: first, Mn-containing particles with Mn/Al ratios in excess of the sediment were present in the water column, implying the presence of bacterial Mn-oxidation processes. Second, dissolved and labile Co were uniform with depth beneath the sea ice after the winter season. Third, dissolved Co:PO3−4 ratios were consistent with previously observed Ross Sea stoichiometry, implying that over-winter scavenging was slow relative to mixing. Abundant dissolved Fe and Mn were consistent with a winter reserve concept, and particulate Al, Fe, Mn, and Co covaried, implying that these metals behaved similarly. Elevated particulate metals were observed in proximity to the nearby Islands, with particulate Fe/Al ratios similar to that of nearby sediment, consistent with a sediment resuspension source. Dissolved and particulate metals were elevated at the shallowest depths (particularly Fe) with elevated particulate P/Al and Fe/Al ratios in excess of sediments, demonstrating a sea ice biomass source. The sea ice biomass was extremely dense (chl a >9500 μg/L) and contained high abundances of particulate metals with elevated metal/Al ratios. A hypothesis for seasonal accumulation of bioactive metals at the base of the McMurdo Sound sea ice by the basal algal community is presented, analogous to a capacitor that accumulates iron during the spring and early summer. The release and transport of particulate metals accumulated at the base of the sea ice by sloughing is discussed as a potentially important mechanism in providing iron nutrition during polynya phytoplankton bloom formation and could be examined in future oceanographic

  14. Water in Massive protostellar objects: first detection of THz water maser and water inner abundance.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Herpin, Fabrice

    2014-10-01

    The formation massive stars is still not well understood. Despite numerous water line observations with Herschel telescope, over a broad range of energies, in most of the observed sources the WISH-KP (Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel, Co-PI: F. Herpin) observations were not able to trace the emission from the hot core. Moreover, water maser model predict that several THz water maser should be detectable in these objects. We aim to detect for the first time the THz maser lines o-H2O 8(2,7)- 7(3,4) at 1296.41106 GHz and p-H2O 7(2,6)- 6(3,3) at 1440.78167 GHz as predicted by the model. We propose two sources for a northern flight as first priority and two other sources for a possible southern flight. This will 1) constrain the maser theory, 2) constrain the physical conditions and water abundance in the inner layers of the prostellar environnement. In addition, we will use the p-H2O 3(3,1)- 4(0,4) thermal line at 1893.68651 GHz (L2 channel) in order to probe the physical conditions and water abundance in the inner layers of the prostellar objects where HIFI-Herschel has partially failed.

  15. Photochemistry of coronene in cosmic water ice analogs at different concentrations.

    PubMed

    de Barros, A L F; Mattioda, A L; Ricca, A; Cruz, G; Allamandola, L J

    2017-10-20

    This work presents the photochemistry of ultraviolet (UV) irradiated coronene in water ices at 15 K, studied using mid-infrared Fourier transform (FTIR) spectroscopy for C 24 H 12 :H 2 O at concentrations of (1:50), (1:150), (1:200), (1:300) and (1:400). Previous UV irradiation studies of anthracene:H 2 O, pyrene:H 2 O and benzo[ghi]perylene:H 2 O ices at 15 K have shown that aromatic alcohols and ketones, as well as CO 2 and H 2 CO are formed at very low temperatures. Like-wise, here, in addition to the coronene cation, hydroxy-, keto-, and protonated coronene (coronene-H + ) are formed. The rate constants for the decay of neutral coronene and for the formation of photoproducts have been derived. It is shown that PAHs and their UV-induced PAH:H 2 O photoproducts have mid-infrared spectroscopic signatures in the 5-8 μ m region that can contribute to the interstellar ice components described by Boogert et al. (2008) as C1-C5. Our results suggest that oxygenated and hydrogenated PAHs could be in UV-irradiated regions of the ISM where water-rich ices are important.

  16. Photochemistry of Coronene in Cosmic Water Ice Analogs at Different Concentrations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Barros, A. L. F.; Mattioda, A. L.; Ricca, A.; Cruz-Diaz, G. A.; Allamandola, L. J.

    2017-10-01

    This work presents the photochemistry of ultraviolet (UV) irradiated coronene in water ices at 15 K studied using mid-infrared Fourier transform (FTIR) spectroscopy for C24H12:H2O at concentrations of (1:50), (1:150), (1:200), (1:300), and (1:400). Previous UV irradiation studies of anthracene:H2O, pyrene:H2O, and benzo[ghi]perylene:H2O ices at 15 K have shown that aromatic alcohols and ketones, as well as CO2 and H2CO, are formed at very low temperatures. Likewise, here, in addition to the coronene cation, hydroxy-, keto-, and protonated coronene (coronene H+) are formed. The rate constants for the decay of neutral coronene and for the formation of photoproducts have been derived. It is shown that Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their UV induced PAH:H2O photoproducts have mid-infrared spectroscopic signatures in the 5-8 μm region that can contribute to the interstellar ice components described by Boogert et al. as C1-C5. Our results suggest that oxygenated and hydrogenated PAHs could be in UV-irradiated regions of the interstellar medium where water-rich ices are important.

  17. Stability relationship for water droplet crystallization with the NASA Lewis icing spray

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Marek, C. John; Bartlett, C. Scott

    1987-01-01

    In order to produce small droplets for icing cloud simulation, high pressure air atomizing nozzles are used. For certain icing testing applications, median drop sizes as small as 5 mm are needed, which require air atomizing pressures greater than 3000 kPa. Isentropic expansion of the ambient temperature atomizing air to atmospheric pressure can result in air stream temperatures of -160 C which results in ice crystals forming in the cloud. To avoid such low temperatures, it is necessary to heat the air and water to high initial temperatures. An icing spray research program was conducted to map the temperatures below which ice crystals form. A soot slide technique was used to determine the presence of crystals in the spray.

  18. Observed vulnerability of Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf to wind-driven inflow of warm deep water.

    PubMed

    Darelius, E; Fer, I; Nicholls, K W

    2016-08-02

    The average rate of melting at the base of the large Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the southern Weddell Sea is currently low, but projected to increase dramatically within the next century. In a model study, melt rates increase as changing ice conditions cause a redirection of a coastal current, bringing warm water of open ocean origin through the Filchner Depression and into the Filchner Ice Shelf cavity. Here we present observations from near Filchner Ice Shelf and from the Filchner Depression, which show that pulses of warm water already arrive as far south as the ice front. This southward heat transport follows the eastern flank of the Filchner Depression and is found to be directly linked to the strength of a wind-driven coastal current. Our observations emphasize the potential sensitivity of Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf melt rates to changes in wind forcing.

  19. Observed vulnerability of Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf to wind-driven inflow of warm deep water

    PubMed Central

    Darelius, E.; Fer, I.; Nicholls, K. W.

    2016-01-01

    The average rate of melting at the base of the large Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in the southern Weddell Sea is currently low, but projected to increase dramatically within the next century. In a model study, melt rates increase as changing ice conditions cause a redirection of a coastal current, bringing warm water of open ocean origin through the Filchner Depression and into the Filchner Ice Shelf cavity. Here we present observations from near Filchner Ice Shelf and from the Filchner Depression, which show that pulses of warm water already arrive as far south as the ice front. This southward heat transport follows the eastern flank of the Filchner Depression and is found to be directly linked to the strength of a wind-driven coastal current. Our observations emphasize the potential sensitivity of Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf melt rates to changes in wind forcing. PMID:27481659

  20. The effects of sub-ice-shelf melting on dense shelf water formation and export in idealized simulations of Antarctic margins

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marques, Gustavo; Stern, Alon; Harrison, Matthew; Sergienko, Olga; Hallberg, Robert

    2017-04-01

    Dense shelf water (DSW) is formed in coastal polynyas around Antarctica as a result of intense cooling and brine rejection. A fraction of this water reaches ice shelves cavities and is modified due to interactions with sub-ice-shelf melt water. This modified water mass contributes to the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water, and consequently, influences the large-scale ocean circulation. Here, we investigate the role of sub-ice-shelf melting in the formation and export of DSW using idealized simulations with an isopycnal ocean model (MOM6) coupled with a sea ice model (SIS2) and a thermodynamic active ice shelf. A set of experiments is conducted with variable horizontal grid resolutions (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 km), ice shelf geometries and atmospheric forcing. In all simulations DSW is spontaneously formed in coastal polynyas due to the combined effect of the imposed atmospheric forcing and the ocean state. Our results show that sub-ice-shelf melting can significantly change the rate of dense shelf water outflows, highlighting the importance of this process to correctly represent bottom water formation.

  1. Ballasting by cryogenic gypsum enhances carbon export in a Phaeocystis under-ice bloom.

    PubMed

    Wollenburg, J E; Katlein, C; Nehrke, G; Nöthig, E-M; Matthiessen, J; Wolf-Gladrow, D A; Nikolopoulos, A; Gázquez-Sanchez, F; Rossmann, L; Assmy, P; Babin, M; Bruyant, F; Beaulieu, M; Dybwad, C; Peeken, I

    2018-05-16

    Mineral ballasting enhances carbon export from the surface to the deep ocean; however, little is known about the role of this process in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. Here, we propose gypsum ballasting as a new mechanism that likely facilitated enhanced vertical carbon export from an under-ice phytoplankton bloom dominated by the haptophyte Phaeocystis. In the spring 2015 abundant gypsum crystals embedded in Phaeocystis aggregates were collected throughout the water column and on the sea floor at a depth below 2 km. Model predictions supported by isotopic signatures indicate that 2.7 g m -2 gypsum crystals were formed in sea ice at temperatures below -6.5 °C and released into the water column during sea ice melting. Our finding indicates that sea ice derived (cryogenic) gypsum is stable enough to survive export to the deep ocean and serves as an effective ballast mineral. Our findings also suggest a potentially important and previously unknown role of Phaeocystis in deep carbon export due to cryogenic gypsum ballasting. The rapidly changing Arctic sea ice regime might favour this gypsum gravity chute with potential consequences for carbon export and food partitioning between pelagic and benthic ecosystems.

  2. Direct evidence of warm water access to the Totten Glacier sub-ice shelf cavity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orsi, A. H.; Rintoul, S. R.; Silvano, A.; van Wijk, E.; Pena-Molino, B.; Rosenberg, M. A.

    2015-12-01

    The Totten Glacier holds enough ice to raise global sea level by 3.5 m, is thinning according to (some) satellite data, and is grounded well below sea level on a retrograde bed and hence is potentially unstable. Basal melt driven by ocean heat flux has been linked to ice shelf thinning elsewhere in Antarctica, but no oceanographic measurements had been made near the Totten. In January 2015 the RSV Aurora Australis was the first ship to reach the Totten calving front. Observations from ship-board CTD, moorings and profiling floats provide direct confirmation that warm water reaches the ice shelf cavity. Warm water is present near the sea floor at every station deeper than 300 m depth, with maximum temperatures at mid-shelf >0.5°C. Mooring data confirm that the warm water is present year-round. A deep (>1100 m) channel at the calving front allows warm water (-0.4°C, >2°C above the local freezing point) to access the ice shelf cavity. The contrast between the oceanographic conditions near the Totten and near the Mertz Glacier is stark, although they are separated by only 30 degrees of longitude. East Antarctic ice shelves have often been assumed to behave in a similar manner and to be invulnerable to ocean change; these measurements suggest these assumptions need to be reconsidered.

  3. Effects of effluent water on the abundance of cowpea insect pests.

    PubMed

    Tiroesele, Bamphitlhi; Sitwane, Monametsi; Obopile, M; Ullah, Muhammad Irfan; Ali, Sajjad

    2017-10-03

    Botswana experiences low and unreliable rainfall. Thus, the use of effluent water in agriculture is increasingly important. Insect damage is the major constraint for cowpea grain production in the most cowpea-producing lands. We investigated the effects of effluent water on insect pest abundance on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) under field conditions. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with 100, 75, 50, and 25% of effluent water and 0% (control-clean tap water) treatments. Treatments with 100% effluent water resulted in a significant increase in insect pest populations as compared with the control. These results show that the use of effluent water to irrigate crops may increase incidence, abundance, and damage caused by insect pests possibly by decreasing plant vigor. The use of effluent water in agriculture should be addressed in a wise way.

  4. Sea Ice and Oceanographic Conditions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oceanus, 1986

    1986-01-01

    The coastal waters of the Beaufort Sea are covered with ice three-fourths of the year. These waters (during winter) are discussed by considering: consolidation of coastal ice; under-ice water; brine circulation; biological energy; life under the ice (including kelp and larger animals); food chains; and ice break-up. (JN)

  5. Detecting High Ice Water Content Cloud Regions Using Airborne and Satellite Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kheyrollah Pour, H.; Korolev, A.; Barker, H.; Wolde, M.; Heckman, I.; Duguay, C. R.

    2016-12-01

    Tropical mesoscale convective systems (MCS) have significant impacts on local and global hydrological cycles and radiation budgets. Moreover, high ice water content (HIWC) found inside MCS clouds at altitudes above 7 km have been identified as hazardous for aviation safety. The environment inside HIWC cloud regions may cause icing of aircraft engines resulting in uncontrolled engine power loss or damage. This phenomenon is known as ice crystal icing (ICI). International aviation regulatory agencies are now attempting to define techniques that enable prediction and detection of potential ICI environments. Such techniques range from on-board HIWC detection to nowcasting of ice crystal weather using satellite data and numerical weather prediction models. The most practical way to monitor continuously for areas of HIWC is by remote sensing with passive radiometers on geostationary satellites. Establishing correlations between HIWC cloud regions and radiances is, however, a challenging problem. This is because regions of HIWC can occur several kilometers below cloud top, while passive satellite radiometers response mainly to the upper kilometers of MCS clouds. The High Altitude Ice Crystals - High Ice Water Content (HAIC-HIWC) field campaigns in Cayenne, French Guiana collected a rich dataset from aboard the Canadian NRC Convair-580 that was equipped with a suite of in-situ microphysical instruments and Dopplerized W- and X-band radars with vertically- and horizontally-directed antenna. This paper aims to describe an algorithm that has been developed to establish relationships between satellite radiances and locations of HIWC regions identified from in-situ measurements of microphysical properties, Doppler velocities, and vertical and horizontal radar reflectivity.

  6. Water Ice in 2060 Chiron and Its Implications for Centaurs and Kuiper Belt Objects.

    PubMed

    Luu; Jewitt; Trujillo

    2000-03-10

    We report the detection of water ice in the Centaur 2060 Chiron, based on near-infrared spectra (1.0-2.5 µm) taken with the 3.8 m United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and the 10 m Keck Telescope. The appearance of this ice is correlated with the recent decline in Chiron's cometary activity: the decrease in the coma cross section allows previously hidden solid-state surface features to be seen. We predict that water ice is ubiquitous among Centaurs and Kuiper Belt objects, but its surface coverage varies from object to object and thus determines its detectability and the occurrence of cometary activity.

  7. Local order parameters for use in driving homogeneous ice nucleation with all-atom models of water

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reinhardt, Aleks; Doye, Jonathan P. K.; Noya, Eva G.; Vega, Carlos

    2012-11-01

    We present a local order parameter based on the standard Steinhardt-Ten Wolde approach that is capable both of tracking and of driving homogeneous ice nucleation in simulations of all-atom models of water. We demonstrate that it is capable of forcing the growth of ice nuclei in supercooled liquid water simulated using the TIP4P/2005 model using over-biassed umbrella sampling Monte Carlo simulations. However, even with such an order parameter, the dynamics of ice growth in deeply supercooled liquid water in all-atom models of water are shown to be very slow, and so the computation of free energy landscapes and nucleation rates remains extremely challenging.

  8. Icing Cloud Calibration of the NASA Glenn Icing Research Tunnel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ide, Robert F.; Oldenburg, John R.

    2001-01-01

    The icing research tunnel at the NASA Glenn Research Center underwent a major rehabilitation in 1999, necessitating recalibration of the icing clouds. This report describes the methods used in the recalibration, including the procedure used to establish a uniform icing cloud and the use of a standard icing blade technique for measurement of liquid water content. The instruments and methods used to perform the droplet size calibration are also described. The liquid water content/droplet size operating envelopes of the icing tunnel are shown for a range of airspeeds and compared to the FAA icing certification criteria. The capabilities of the IRT to produce large droplet icing clouds is also detailed.

  9. Methanol ice in the protostar GL 2136

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Skinner, C. J.; Tielens, A. G. G. M.; Barlow, M. J.; Justtanont, K.

    1992-01-01

    We present ground-based spectra in the 10 and 20 micron atmospheric windows of the deeply embedded protostar GL 2136. These reveal narrow absorption features at 9.7 and 8.9 microns, which we ascribe to the CO-stretch and CH3 rock (respectively) of solid methanol in grain mantles. The peak position of the 9.7 micron band implies that methanol is an important ice mantle component. However, the CH3OH/H2O abundance ratio derived from the observed column densities is only 0.1. This discrepancy suggests that the solid methanol and water ice are located in independent grain components. These independent components may reflect chemical differentiation during grain mantle formation and/or partial outgassing close to the protostar.

  10. "Ice Cubes" in the Center of the Milky Way: Water-ice and Hydrocarbons in the Central Parsec

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moultaka, J.; Eckart, A.; Mužić, K.

    2015-06-01

    The close environment of the central supermassive black hole of our Galaxy has been studied thoroughly for decades in order to shed light on the behavior of the central regions of galaxies in general and of active galaxies in particular. The Galactic center (GC) has shown a wealth of structures on different scales with a complicated mixture of early- and late-type stars, ionized and molecular gas, dust, and winds. Here we aim to study the distribution of water-ices and hydrocarbons in the central parsec, as well as along the line of sight. This study is made possible thanks to L-band spectroscopy. This spectral band, from 2.8 to 4.2 μm, hosts important signatures of the circumstellar medium and interstellar dense and diffuse media among which deep absorption features are attributed to water-ices and hydrocarbons. We observed the GC in the L band of the ISAAC spectrograph located on the UT1/VLT ESO telescope. By mapping the central half parsec using 27 slit positions, we were able to build the first data cube of the region in this wavelength domain. Thanks to a calibrator spectrum of the foreground extinction in the L band derived in a previous paper, we corrected our data cube for the line-of-sight extinction and validated our calibrator spectrum. The data show that a residual absorption due to water-ices and hydrocarbons is present in the corrected data cube. This suggests that the features are produced in the local environment of the GC, implying very low temperatures well below 80 K. This is in agreement with our finding of local CO ices in the central parsec described in Moultaka et al. Resulting from ESO VLT observations of program ID numbers 71.C-0192A and 077.C-0286A.

  11. Archival processes of the water stable isotope signal in East Antarctic ice cores

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Casado, Mathieu; Landais, Amaelle; Picard, Ghislain; Münch, Thomas; Laepple, Thomas; Stenni, Barbara; Dreossi, Giuliano; Ekaykin, Alexey; Arnaud, Laurent; Genthon, Christophe; Touzeau, Alexandra; Masson-Delmotte, Valerie; Jouzel, Jean

    2018-05-01

    The oldest ice core records are obtained from the East Antarctic Plateau. Water isotopes are key proxies to reconstructing past climatic conditions over the ice sheet and at the evaporation source. The accuracy of climate reconstructions depends on knowledge of all processes affecting water vapour, precipitation and snow isotopic compositions. Fractionation processes are well understood and can be integrated in trajectory-based Rayleigh distillation and isotope-enabled climate models. However, a quantitative understanding of processes potentially altering snow isotopic composition after deposition is still missing. In low-accumulation sites, such as those found in East Antarctica, these poorly constrained processes are likely to play a significant role and limit the interpretability of an ice core's isotopic composition. By combining observations of isotopic composition in vapour, precipitation, surface snow and buried snow from Dome C, a deep ice core site on the East Antarctic Plateau, we found indications of a seasonal impact of metamorphism on the surface snow isotopic signal when compared to the initial precipitation. Particularly in summer, exchanges of water molecules between vapour and snow are driven by the diurnal sublimation-condensation cycles. Overall, we observe in between precipitation events modification of the surface snow isotopic composition. Using high-resolution water isotopic composition profiles from snow pits at five Antarctic sites with different accumulation rates, we identified common patterns which cannot be attributed to the seasonal variability of precipitation. These differences in the precipitation, surface snow and buried snow isotopic composition provide evidence of post-deposition processes affecting ice core records in low-accumulation areas.

  12. Magnetospheric ion sputtering and water ice grain size at Europa

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cassidy, T. A.; Paranicas, C. P.; Shirley, J. H.; Dalton, J. B., III; Teolis, B. D.; Johnson, R. E.; Kamp, L.; Hendrix, A. R.

    2013-03-01

    NIMS data from an area on the trailing hemisphere apex. We find a high abundance of sulfuric acid hydrate and radiation-resistant hydrated salts along with large water ice regolith grains, all of which are consistent with the high levels of magnetospheric bombardment at the trailing apex.

  13. Surfacing behavior and gas release of the physostome sprat (Sprattus sprattus) in ice-free and ice-covered waters.

    PubMed

    Solberg, Ingrid; Kaartvedt, Stein

    2014-01-01

    Upward-facing echosounders that provided continuous, long-term measurements were applied to address the surfacing behavior and gas release of the physostome sprat ( Sprattus sprattus ) throughout an entire winter in a 150-m-deep Norwegian fjord. During ice-free conditions, the sprat surfaced and released gas bubbles at night with an estimated surfacing rate of 3.5 times per fish day -1 . The vertical swimming speeds during surfacing were considerably higher (~10 times) than during diel vertical migrations, especially when returning from the surface, and particularly when the fjord was not ice covered. The sprat released gas a few hours after surfacing, suggesting that the sprat gulped atmospheric air during its excursions to the surface. While the surface activity increased after the fjord became ice covered, the records of gas release decreased sharply. The under-ice fish then displayed a behavior interpreted as "searching for the surface" by repeatedly ascending toward the ice, apparently with limited success of filling the swim bladder. This interpretation was supported by lower acoustic target strength in ice-covered waters. The frequent surfacing behavior demonstrated in this study indicates that gulping of atmospheric air is an important element in the life of sprat. While at least part of the population endured overwintering in the ice-covered habitat, ice covering may constrain those physostome fishes that lack a gas-generating gland in ways that remain to be established.

  14. Operational algorithm for ice-water classification on dual-polarized RADARSAT-2 images

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zakhvatkina, Natalia; Korosov, Anton; Muckenhuber, Stefan; Sandven, Stein; Babiker, Mohamed

    2017-01-01

    Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from RADARSAT-2 (RS2) in dual-polarization mode provide additional information for discriminating sea ice and open water compared to single-polarization data. We have developed an automatic algorithm based on dual-polarized RS2 SAR images to distinguish open water (rough and calm) and sea ice. Several technical issues inherent in RS2 data were solved in the pre-processing stage, including thermal noise reduction in HV polarization and correction of angular backscatter dependency in HH polarization. Texture features were explored and used in addition to supervised image classification based on the support vector machines (SVM) approach. The study was conducted in the ice-covered area between Greenland and Franz Josef Land. The algorithm has been trained using 24 RS2 scenes acquired in winter months in 2011 and 2012, and the results were validated against manually derived ice charts of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The algorithm was applied on a total of 2705 RS2 scenes obtained from 2013 to 2015, and the validation results showed that the average classification accuracy was 91 ± 4 %.

  15. Identification of Accretion as Grain Growth Mechanism in Astrophysically Relevant Water&ice Dusty Plasma Experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marshall, Ryan S.; Chai, Kil-Byoung; Bellan, Paul M.

    2017-03-01

    The grain growth process in the Caltech water-ice dusty plasma experiment has been studied using a high-speed camera and a long-distance microscope lens. It is observed that (I) the ice grain number density decreases fourfold as the average grain major axis increases from 20 to 80 μm, (II) the major axis length has a log-normal distribution rather than a power-law dependence, and (III) no collisions between ice grains are apparent. The grains have a large negative charge resulting in strong mutual repulsion and this, combined with the fractal character of the ice grains, prevents them from agglomerating. In order for the grain kinetic energy to be sufficiently small to prevent collisions between ice grains, the volumetric packing factor (I.e., ratio of the actual volume to the volume of a circumscribing ellipsoid) of the ice grains must be less than ˜0.1 depending on the exact relative velocity of the grains in question. Thus, it is concluded that direct accretion of water molecules is very likely to dominate the observed ice grain growth.

  16. 21 CFR 1250.86 - Water for making ice.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Water for making ice. 1250.86 Section 1250.86 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) REGULATIONS UNDER CERTAIN OTHER ACTS ADMINISTERED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION INTERSTATE CONVEYANCE SANITATION Sanitation Facilities and Conditions...

  17. Refreeze experiments with water droplets containing different types of ice nuclei interpreted by classical nucleation theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaufmann, Lukas; Marcolli, Claudia; Luo, Beiping; Peter, Thomas

    2017-03-01

    Homogeneous nucleation of ice in supercooled water droplets is a stochastic process. In its classical description, the growth of the ice phase requires the emergence of a critical embryo from random fluctuations of water molecules between the water bulk and ice-like clusters, which is associated with overcoming an energy barrier. For heterogeneous ice nucleation on ice-nucleating surfaces both stochastic and deterministic descriptions are in use. Deterministic (singular) descriptions are often favored because the temperature dependence of ice nucleation on a substrate usually dominates the stochastic time dependence, and the ease of representation facilitates the incorporation in climate models. Conversely, classical nucleation theory (CNT) describes heterogeneous ice nucleation as a stochastic process with a reduced energy barrier for the formation of a critical embryo in the presence of an ice-nucleating surface. The energy reduction is conveniently parameterized in terms of a contact angle α between the ice phase immersed in liquid water and the heterogeneous surface. This study investigates various ice-nucleating agents in immersion mode by subjecting them to repeated freezing cycles to elucidate and discriminate the time and temperature dependences of heterogeneous ice nucleation. Freezing rates determined from such refreeze experiments are presented for Hoggar Mountain dust, birch pollen washing water, Arizona test dust (ATD), and also nonadecanol coatings. For the analysis of the experimental data with CNT, we assumed the same active site to be always responsible for freezing. Three different CNT-based parameterizations were used to describe rate coefficients for heterogeneous ice nucleation as a function of temperature, all leading to very similar results: for Hoggar Mountain dust, ATD, and larger nonadecanol-coated water droplets, the experimentally determined increase in freezing rate with decreasing temperature is too shallow to be described properly by

  18. Ice Generation and the Heat and Mass Transfer Phenomena of Introducing Water to a Cold Bath of Brine.

    PubMed

    Yun, Xiao; Quarini, Giuseppe L

    2017-03-13

    We demonstrate a method for the study of the heat and mass transfer and of the freezing phenomena in a subcooled brine environment. Our experiment showed that, under the proper conditions, ice can be produced when water is introduced to a bath of cold brine. To make ice form, in addition to having the brine and water mix, the rate of heat transfer must bypass that of mass transfer. When water is introduced in the form of tiny droplets to the brine surface, the mode of heat and mass transfer is by diffusion. The buoyancy stops water from mixing with the brine underneath, but as the ice grows thicker, it slows down the rate of heat transfer, making ice more difficult to grow as a result. When water is introduced inside the brine in the form of a flow, a number of factors are found to influence how much ice can form. Brine temperature and concentration, which are the driving forces of heat and mass transfer, respectively, can affect the water-to-ice conversion ratio; lower bath temperatures and brine concentrations encourage more ice to form. The flow rheology, which can directly affect both the heat and mass transfer coefficients, is also a key factor. In addition, the flow rheology changes the area of contact of the flow with the bulk fluid.

  19. The Effect of Seasonal Variability of Atlantic Water on the Arctic Sea Ice Cover

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ivanov, V. V.; Repina, I. A.

    2018-01-01

    Under the influence of global warming, the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean (AO) is expected to reduce with a transition toward a seasonal ice cover by the end of this century. A comparison of climate-model predictions with measurements shows that the actual rate of ice cover decay in the AO is higher than the predicted one. This paper argues that the rapid shrinking of the Arctic summer ice cover is due to its increased seasonality, while seasonal oscillations of the Atlantic origin water temperature create favorable conditions for the formation of negative anomalies in the ice-cover area in winter. The basis for this hypothesis is the fundamental possibility of the activation of positive feedback provided by a specific feature of the seasonal cycle of the inflowing Atlantic origin water and the peaking of temperature in the Nansen Basin in midwinter. The recently accelerated reduction in the summer ice cover in the AO leads to an increased accumulation of heat in the upper ocean layer during the summer season. The extra heat content of the upper ocean layer favors prerequisite conditions for winter thermohaline convection and the transfer of heat from the Atlantic water (AW) layer to the ice cover. This, in turn, contributes to further ice thinning and a decrease in ice concentration, accelerated melting in summer, and a greater accumulation of heat in the ocean by the end of the following summer. An important role is played by the seasonal variability of the temperature of AW, which forms on the border between the North European and Arctic basins. The phase of seasonal oscillation changes while the AW is moving through the Nansen Basin. As a result, the timing of temperature peak shifts from summer to winter, additionally contributing to enhanced ice melting in winter. The formulated theoretical concept is substantiated by a simplified mathematical model and comparison with observations.

  20. Ceres: predictions for near-surface water ice stability and implications for plume generating processes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Titus, Timothy N.

    2015-01-01

    This paper will constrain the possible sources and processes for the formation of recently observed H2O vapor plumes above the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres. Two hypotheses have been proposed: (1) cryovolcanism where the water source is the mantle and the heating source is still unknown or (2) comet-like sublimation where near-surface water ice is vaporized by seasonally increasing solar insolation. We test hypothesis #2, comet-like near-surface sublimation, by using a thermal model to examine the stability of water-ice in the near surface. For a reasonable range of physical parameters (thermal inertia, surface roughness, slopes), we find that water ice is only stable at latitudes higher than ~40-60 degrees. These results indicate that either (a) the physical properties of Ceres are unlike our expectations or (b) an alternative to comet-like sublimation, such as the cryovolcanism hypothesis, must be invoked.

  1. Antifreeze Proteins at the Ice/Water Interface: Three Calculated Discriminating Properties for Orientation of Type I Proteins

    PubMed Central

    Wierzbicki, Andrzej; Dalal, Pranav; Cheatham, Thomas E.; Knickelbein, Jared E.; Haymet, A. D. J.; Madura, Jeffry D.

    2007-01-01

    Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) protect many plants and organisms from freezing in low temperatures. Of the different AFPs, the most studied AFP Type I from winter flounder is used in the current computational studies to gain molecular insight into its adsorption at the ice/water interface. Employing molecular dynamics simulations, we calculate the free energy difference between the hydrophilic and hydrophobic faces of the protein interacting with ice. Furthermore, we identify three properties of Type I “antifreeze” proteins that discriminate among these two orientations of the protein at the ice/water interface. The three properties are: the “surface area” of the protein; a measure of the interaction of the protein with neighboring water molecules as determined by the number of hydrogen bond count, for example; and the side-chain orientation angles of the threonine residues. All three discriminants are consistent with our free energy results, which clearly show that the hydrophilic protein face orientations toward the ice/water interface, as hypothesized from experimental and ice/vacuum simulations, are incorrect and support the hypothesis that the hydrophobic face is oriented toward the ice/water interface. The adsorption free energy is calculated to be 2–3 kJ/mol. PMID:17526572

  2. On the nature of the dirty ice at the bottom of the GISP2 ice core

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bender, Michael L.; Burgess, Edward; Alley, Richard B.; Barnett, Bruce; Clow, Gary D.

    2010-01-01

    We present data on the triple Ar isotope composition in trapped gas from clean, stratigraphically disturbed ice between 2800 and 3040m depth in the GISP2 ice core, and from basal dirty ice from 3040 to 3053m depth. We also present data for the abundance and isotopic composition of O2 and N2, and abundance of Ar, in the basal dirty ice. The Ar/N2 ratio of dirty basal ice, the heavy isotope enrichment (reflecting gravitational fractionation), and the total gas content all indicate that the gases in basal dirty ice originate from the assimilation of clean ice of the overlying glacier, which comprises most of the ice in the dirty bottom layer. O2 is partly to completely depleted in basal ice, reflecting active metabolism. The gravitationally corrected ratio of 40Ar/38Ar, which decreases with age in the global atmosphere, is compatible with an age of 100-250ka for clean disturbed ice. In basal ice, 40Ar is present in excess due to injection of radiogenic 40Ar produced in the underlying continental crust. The weak depth gradient of 40Ar in the dirty basal ice, and the distribution of dirt, indicate mixing within the basal ice, while various published lines of evidence indicate mixing within the overlying clean, disturbed ice. Excess CH4, which reaches thousands of ppm in basal dirty ice at GRIP, is virtually absent in overlying clean disturbed ice, demonstrating that mixing of dirty basal ice into the overlying clean ice, if it occurs at all, is very slow. Order-of-magnitude estimates indicate that the mixing rate of clean ice into dirty ice is sufficient to maintain a steady thickness of dirty ice against thinning from the mean ice flow. The dirty ice appears to consist of two or more basal components in addition to clean glacial ice. A small amount of soil or permafrost, plus preglacial snow, lake or ground ice could explain the observations.

  3. Water isotopic ratios from a continuously melted ice core sample

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gkinis, V.; Popp, T. J.; Blunier, T.; Bigler, M.; Schüpbach, S.; Johnsen, S. J.

    2011-06-01

    A new technique for on-line high resolution isotopic analysis of liquid water, tailored for ice core studies is presented. We build an interface between an Infra Red Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (IR-CRDS) and a Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) system. The system offers the possibility to perform simultaneuous water isotopic analysis of δ18O and δD on a continuous stream of liquid water as generated from a continuously melted ice rod. Injection of sub μl amounts of liquid water is achieved by pumping sample through a fused silica capillary and instantaneously vaporizing it with 100 % efficiency in a home made oven at a temperature of 170 °C. A calibration procedure allows for proper reporting of the data on the VSMOW scale. We apply the necessary corrections based on the assessed performance of the system regarding instrumental drifts and dependance on humidity levels. The melt rates are monitored in order to assign a depth scale to the measured isotopic profiles. Application of spectral methods yields the combined uncertainty of the system at below 0.1 ‰ and 0.5 ‰ for δ18O and δD, respectively. This performance is comparable to that achieved with mass spectrometry. Dispersion of the sample in the transfer lines limits the resolution of the technique. In this work we investigate and assess these dispersion effects. By using an optimal filtering method we show how the measured profiles can be corrected for the smoothing effects resulting from the sample dispersion. Considering the significant advantages the technique offers, i.e. simultaneuous measurement of δ18O and δD, potentially in combination with chemical components that are traditionally measured on CFA systems, notable reduction on analysis time and power consumption, we consider it as an alternative to traditional isotope ratio mass spectrometry with the possibility to be deployed for field ice core studies. We present data acquired in the framework of the NEEM deep ice core drilling project in

  4. Vapor-deposited water and nitric acid ices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leu, Ming-Taun; Keyser, Leon F.

    Ices formed by vapor deposition have been the subject of numerous laboratory investigations in connection with snow and glaciers on the ground, ice clouds in the terrestrial atmosphere, surfaces of other planets and their satellites, and the interstellar medium. In this review we will focus on these specific subjects: (1) heterogeneous chemistry on the surfaces of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and (2) surfaces of satellites of the outer planets in our solar system. Stratospheric ozone provides a protective shield for mankind and the global biosphere from harmful ultraviolet solar radiation. In past decades, theoretical atmospheric models for the calculation of ozone balance frequently used only homogeneous gas-phase reactions in their studies. Since the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985, however, it has been demonstrated that knowledge of heterogeneous reactions on the surface of PSCs is definitely needed to understand this significant natural event due to the anthropogenic emission of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). We will briefly discuss the experimental techniques for the investigation of heterogeneous chemistry on ice surfaces carried out in our laboratories. The experimental apparatus used include: several flow-tube reactors, an electron-impact ionization mass spectrometer, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, a BET adsorption apparatus, and a scanning environmental electron microscope. The adsorption experiments and electron microscopic work have demonstrated that the vapor-deposited ices are highly porous. Therefore, it is necessary to develop theoretical models for the elucidation of the uptake and reactivity of trace gases in porous ice substrates. Several measurements of uptake and reaction probabilities of these trace gases on water ices and nitric acid ices have been performed under ambient conditions in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, mainly in the temperature range 180-220 K. The trace gases of atmospheric importance

  5. Photochemistry of Coronene in Cosmic Water Ice Analogs at Different Concentrations

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    De Barros, A. L. F.; Mattioda, A. L.; Ricca, A.

    This work presents the photochemistry of ultraviolet (UV) irradiated coronene in water ices at 15 K studied using mid-infrared Fourier transform (FTIR) spectroscopy for C{sub 24}H{sub 12}:H{sub 2}O at concentrations of (1:50), (1:150), (1:200), (1:300), and (1:400). Previous UV irradiation studies of anthracene:H{sub 2}O, pyrene:H{sub 2}O, and benzo[ghi]perylene:H{sub 2}O ices at 15 K have shown that aromatic alcohols and ketones, as well as CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}CO, are formed at very low temperatures. Likewise, here, in addition to the coronene cation, hydroxy-, keto-, and protonated coronene (coronene H{sup +}) are formed. The rate constants for the decay of neutralmore » coronene and for the formation of photoproducts have been derived. It is shown that Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their UV induced PAH:H{sub 2}O photoproducts have mid-infrared spectroscopic signatures in the 5–8 μ m region that can contribute to the interstellar ice components described by Boogert et al. as C1–C5. Our results suggest that oxygenated and hydrogenated PAHs could be in UV-irradiated regions of the interstellar medium where water-rich ices are important.« less

  6. Unanticipated Geochemical and Microbial Community Structure under Seasonal Ice Cover in a Dilute, Dimictic Arctic Lake.

    PubMed

    Schütte, Ursel M E; Cadieux, Sarah B; Hemmerich, Chris; Pratt, Lisa M; White, Jeffrey R

    2016-01-01

    Despite most lakes in the Arctic being perennially or seasonally frozen for at least 40% of the year, little is known about microbial communities and nutrient cycling under ice cover. We assessed the vertical microbial community distribution and geochemical composition in early spring under ice in a seasonally ice-covered lake in southwest Greenland using amplicon-based sequencing that targeted 16S rRNA genes and using a combination of field and laboratory aqueous geochemical methods. Microbial communities changed consistently with changes in geochemistry. Composition of the abundant members responded strongly to redox conditions, shifting downward from a predominantly heterotrophic aerobic community in the suboxic waters to a heterotrophic anaerobic community in the anoxic waters. Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of Sporichthyaceae, Comamonadaceae, and the SAR11 Clade had higher relative abundances above the oxycline and OTUs within the genus Methylobacter, the phylum Lentisphaerae, and purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) below the oxycline. Notably, a 13-fold increase in sulfide at the oxycline was reflected in an increase and change in community composition of potential sulfur oxidizers. Purple non-sulfur bacteria were present above the oxycline and green sulfur bacteria and PSB coexisted below the oxycline, however, PSB were most abundant. For the first time we show the importance of PSB as potential sulfur oxidizers in an Arctic dimictic lake.

  7. Water isotopic ratios from a continuously melted ice core sample

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gkinis, V.; Popp, T. J.; Blunier, T.; Bigler, M.; Schüpbach, S.; Kettner, E.; Johnsen, S. J.

    2011-11-01

    A new technique for on-line high resolution isotopic analysis of liquid water, tailored for ice core studies is presented. We built an interface between a Wavelength Scanned Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (WS-CRDS) purchased from Picarro Inc. and a Continuous Flow Analysis (CFA) system. The system offers the possibility to perform simultaneuous water isotopic analysis of δ18O and δD on a continuous stream of liquid water as generated from a continuously melted ice rod. Injection of sub μl amounts of liquid water is achieved by pumping sample through a fused silica capillary and instantaneously vaporizing it with 100% efficiency in a~home made oven at a temperature of 170 °C. A calibration procedure allows for proper reporting of the data on the VSMOW-SLAP scale. We apply the necessary corrections based on the assessed performance of the system regarding instrumental drifts and dependance on the water concentration in the optical cavity. The melt rates are monitored in order to assign a depth scale to the measured isotopic profiles. Application of spectral methods yields the combined uncertainty of the system at below 0.1‰ and 0.5‰ for δ18O and δD, respectively. This performance is comparable to that achieved with mass spectrometry. Dispersion of the sample in the transfer lines limits the temporal resolution of the technique. In this work we investigate and assess these dispersion effects. By using an optimal filtering method we show how the measured profiles can be corrected for the smoothing effects resulting from the sample dispersion. Considering the significant advantages the technique offers, i.e. simultaneuous measurement of δ18O and δD, potentially in combination with chemical components that are traditionally measured on CFA systems, notable reduction on analysis time and power consumption, we consider it as an alternative to traditional isotope ratio mass spectrometry with the possibility to be deployed for field ice core studies. We present

  8. FU Orionis outbursts, preferential recondensation of water ice, and the formation of giant planets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hubbard, Alexander

    2017-02-01

    Ices, including water ice, prefer to recondense on to preexisting nuclei rather than spontaneously forming grains from a cloud of vapour. Interestingly, different potential recondensation nuclei have very different propensities to actually nucleate water ice at the temperatures associated with freeze-out in protoplanetary discs. Therefore, if a region in a disc is warmed and then recooled, water vapour should not be expected to refreeze evenly on to all available grains. Instead, it will preferentially recondense on to the most favorable grains. When the recooling is slow enough, only the most favorable grains will nucleate ice, allowing them to recondense thick ice mantles. We quantify the conditions for preferential recondensation to rapidly create pebble-sized grains in protoplanetary discs and show that FU Orionis type outbursts have the appropriate cooling rates to drive pebble creation in a band about 5 au wide outside of the quiescent frost line from approximately Jupiter's orbit to Saturn's (about -10 au). Those pebbles could be of the appropriate size to proceed to planetesimal formation via the Streaming Instability, or to contribute to the growth of planetesimals through pebble accretion. We suggest that this phenomenon contributed to the formation of the gas giants in our own Solar system.

  9. Far-infrared spectral studies of phase changes in water ice induced by proton irradiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Moore, Marla H.; Hudson, Reggie L.

    1992-01-01

    Changes in the FIR spectrum of crystalline and amorphous water ice as a function of temperature are reported. The dramatic differences between the spectra of these ices in the FIR are used to examine the effect of proton irradiation on the stability of the crystalline and amorphous ice phases from 13 to 77 K. In particular, the spectra near 13 K show interconversion between the amorphous and crystalline ice phases beginning at doses near 2 eV/molecule and continuing cyclically with increased dose. The results are used to estimate the stability of irradiated ices in astronomical environments.

  10. The adsorption of fungal ice-nucleating proteins on mineral dusts: a terrestrial reservoir of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    O'Sullivan, Daniel; Murray, Benjamin J.; Ross, James; Webb, Michael E.

    2016-04-01

    The occurrence of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in our atmosphere has a profound impact on the properties and lifetime of supercooled clouds. However, the identities, sources and abundances of airborne particles capable of efficiently nucleating ice at relatively low supercoolings (T > -15 °C) remain enigmatic. Recently, several studies have suggested that unidentified biogenic residues in soil dusts are likely to be an important source of these efficient atmospheric INPs. While it has been shown that cell-free proteins produced by common soil-borne fungi are exceptional INPs, whether these fungi are a source of ice-nucleating biogenic residues in soils has yet to be shown. In particular, it is unclear whether upon adsorption to soil mineral particles, the activity of fungal ice-nucleating proteins is retained or is reduced, as observed for other soil enzymes. Here we show that proteins from a common soil fungus (Fusarium avenaceum) do in fact preferentially bind to and impart their ice-nucleating properties to the common clay mineral kaolinite. The ice-nucleating activity of the proteinaceous INPs is found to be unaffected by adsorption to the clay, and once bound the proteins do not readily desorb, retaining much of their activity even after multiple washings with pure water. The atmospheric implications of the finding that nanoscale fungal INPs can effectively determine the nucleating abilities of lofted soil dusts are discussed.

  11. Adsorption Energies of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen Atoms on the Low-temperature Amorphous Water Ice: A Systematic Estimation from Quantum Chemistry Calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shimonishi, Takashi; Nakatani, Naoki; Furuya, Kenji; Hama, Tetsuya

    2018-03-01

    We propose a new simple computational model to estimate the adsorption energies of atoms and molecules to low-temperature amorphous water ice, and we present the adsorption energies of carbon (3 P), nitrogen (4 S), and oxygen (3 P) atoms based on quantum chemistry calculations. The adsorption energies were estimated to be 14,100 ± 420 K for carbon, 400 ± 30 K for nitrogen, and 1440 ± 160 K for oxygen. The adsorption energy of oxygen is consistent with experimentally reported values. We found that the binding of a nitrogen atom is purely physisorption, while that of a carbon atom is chemisorption, in which a chemical bond to an O atom of a water molecule is formed. That of an oxygen atom has a dual character, with both physisorption and chemisorption. The chemisorption of atomic carbon also implies the possibility of further chemical reactions to produce molecules bearing a C–O bond, though this may hinder the formation of methane on water ice via sequential hydrogenation of carbon atoms. These properties would have a large impact on the chemical evolution of carbon species in interstellar environments. We also investigated the effects of newly calculated adsorption energies on the chemical compositions of cold dense molecular clouds with the aid of gas-ice astrochemical simulations. We found that abundances of major nitrogen-bearing molecules, such as N2 and NH3, are significantly altered by applying the calculated adsorption energy, because nitrogen atoms can thermally diffuse on surfaces, even at 10 K.

  12. Assessing the Impact of Sublimation on the Stable Water Isotope Signal of Surface Ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dennis, D. P.; Ehrenfeucht, S.; Marchant, D. R.

    2017-12-01

    Sublimation is often a significant, if not the dominant, mechanism for ablation in polar and high elevation glacial systems. Previous field studies on firn and ice have suggested that sublimation can enrich the stable water isotope (δD and δ18O) signatures of these exposed materials. Several additional studies have attempted to replicate this effect through laboratory experiments. However, neither the magnitude of alteration caused by sublimation nor the maximum depth at which ice is affected are well-constrained. The effect of sublimation-induced alteration on the original meteoric signal relative to other post-depositional processes is additionally unknown. Here, we present the results of an experimental study on the effect of sublimation on stable water isotope ratios in surface ice. Using high-resolution data, we attempt to assess the suitability of δD and δ18O in near-surface and exposed ice for use as paleoclimate proxies. This type of analysis is particularly useful for future studies of ice from hyper-arid polar regions like the Antarctic McMurdo Dry Valleys, and may be extended to icy planetary bodies, including surface ice on Mars.

  13. Methane excess in Arctic surface water-triggered by sea ice formation and melting.

    PubMed

    Damm, E; Rudels, B; Schauer, U; Mau, S; Dieckmann, G

    2015-11-10

    Arctic amplification of global warming has led to increased summer sea ice retreat, which influences gas exchange between the Arctic Ocean and the atmosphere where sea ice previously acted as a physical barrier. Indeed, recently observed enhanced atmospheric methane concentrations in Arctic regions with fractional sea-ice cover point to unexpected feedbacks in cycling of methane. We report on methane excess in sea ice-influenced water masses in the interior Arctic Ocean and provide evidence that sea ice is a potential source. We show that methane release from sea ice into the ocean occurs via brine drainage during freezing and melting i.e. in winter and spring. In summer under a fractional sea ice cover, reduced turbulence restricts gas transfer, then seawater acts as buffer in which methane remains entrained. However, in autumn and winter surface convection initiates pronounced efflux of methane from the ice covered ocean to the atmosphere. Our results demonstrate that sea ice-sourced methane cycles seasonally between sea ice, sea-ice-influenced seawater and the atmosphere, while the deeper ocean remains decoupled. Freshening due to summer sea ice retreat will enhance this decoupling, which restricts the capacity of the deeper Arctic Ocean to act as a sink for this greenhouse gas.

  14. Shock Melting of Permafrost on Mars: Water Ice Multiphase Equation of State for Numerical Modeling and Its Testing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ivanov, B. A.

    2005-01-01

    The presence of water/ice/brine in upper layers of Martian crust affects many processes of impact cratering. Modeling of these effects promises better understanding of Martian cratering records. We present here the new ANEOS-based multiphase equation of state for water/ice constructed for usage in hydrocodes and first numerical experiments on permafrost shock melting. Preliminary results show that due to multiple shock compression of ice inclusions in rocks the entropy jump in shocked ice is smaller than in pure ice for the same shock pressure. Hence previous estimates of ice melting during impact cratering on Mars should be re-evaluated. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

  15. Seasonal-to-Interannual Variability in Antarctic Sea-Ice Dynamics, and Its Impact on Surface Fluxes and Water Mass Production

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Drinkwater, Mark R.

    1999-01-01

    Strong seasonal and interannual signals in Antarctic bottom-water outflow remain unexplained yet are highly correlated with anomalies in net sea-ice growth in coastal polynyas. The mechanisms responsible for driving salination and replenishment and rejuvenation of the dense shelf "source" waters likely also generate pulses of bottom water outflow. The objective of this research is to investigate time-scales of variability in the dynamics of sea-ice in the Southern Ocean in order to determine the primary sites for production of dense shelf waters. We are using a merged satellite/buoy sea-ice motion data set for the period 1978-present day to compute the dynamics of opening and closing of coastal polynyas over the continental shelf. The Ocean Circulation and Climate Advanced Model (OCCAM) ocean general circulation model with coupled sea-ice dynamics is presently forced using National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) data to simulate fluxes and the salination impact of the ocean shelf regions. This work is relevant in the context of measuring the influence of polar sea-ice dynamics upon polar ocean characteristics, and thereby upon global thermohaline ocean circulation. Interannual variability in simulated net freezing rate in the Southern Weddell Sea is shown for the period 1986-1993. There is a pronounced maximum of ice production in 1988 and minimum in 1991 in response to anomalies in equatorward meridional wind velocity. This follows a similar approximate 8-year interannual cycle in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and satellite-derived ice-edge anomalies reported elsewhere as the "Antarctic Circumpolar Wave." The amplitude of interannual fluctuations in annual net ice production are about 40% of the mean value, implying significant interannual variance in brine rejection and upper ocean heat loss. Southward anomalies in wind stress induce negative anomalies in open water production, which are observed in passive microwave satellite images. Thus, cycles of

  16. Analysis of the Effect of Water Activity on Ice Formation Using a New Theory of Nucleation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Barahona, Donifan

    2013-01-01

    In this work a new theory of nucleation is developed and used to investigate the effect of water activity on the formation of ice within super-cooled droplets. The new theory is based on a novel concept where the interface is assumed to be made of liquid molecules trapped by the solid matrix. Using this concept new expressions are developed for the critical ice germ size and the nucleation work, with explicit dependencies on temperature and water activity. However unlike previous approaches, the new theory does not depend on the interfacial tension between liquid and ice. Comparison against experimental results shows that the new theory is able to reproduce the observed effect of water activity on nucleation rate and freezing temperature. It allows for the first time a theoretical derivation of the constant shift in water activity between melting and nucleation. The new theory offers a consistent thermodynamic view of ice nucleation, simple enough to be applied in atmospheric models of cloud formation.

  17. An Investigation of the Correlation of Water-Ice and Dust Retrievals Via the MGS TES Data Set

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Qu, Z.; Tamppari, L. K.; Smith, M. D.; Bass, Deborah; Hale, A. S.

    2004-01-01

    Water-ice in the Martian atmosphere was first identified in the Mariner 9 Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS) spectra. The Viking Imaging Subsystem (VIS) instruments aboard the Viking orbiter also observed water-ice clouds and hazes in the Martian atmosphere. The MGS TES instrument is an infrared inferometer/spectrometer which covers the spectral range 6-50 micron with a selectable sampling resolution of either 5 or 10 per cm. Using the relatively independent and distinct spectral signatures for dust and water-ice, these two retrieved quantities have been retrieved simultaneously. Although the interrelations among the two quantities have been analyzed by Smith et al. and the retrievals are thought to be robust, understanding the impact of each quantity on the other during their retrievals as well as the impact from the surface for retrievals is important for correctly interpreting the science, and therefore requires close examination. An understanding of the correlation or a-correlation between dust and water-ice would aid in understanding the physical processes responsible for the transport of aerosols in the Martian atmosphere. In this presentation, we present an investigation of the correlation between water-ice and dust in the MGS TES data set.

  18. Regional variations in the stability and diffusion of water-ice in the Martian regolith

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mellon, Michael T.; Jakosky, Bruce M.

    1992-01-01

    Geologic evidence suggests subsurface water-ice has played an important role in the formation of Martian landforms. Forms of mass-wasting such as debris aprons and flow patterns on valley floors suggest creep deformation of ice-laden soil, while thermokarst and chaotic terrain suggest once extensive deposits of ground ice that were later removed. The global distribution of ice-related morphology was mapped. The mapping showed regional variation, in both latitude and longitude, in the distribution of debris aprons, concentric fill craters, and 'softened' crater profiles.

  19. Hydrogen isotope exchanges between water and methanol in interstellar ices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Faure, A.; Faure, M.; Theulé, P.; Quirico, E.; Schmitt, B.

    2015-12-01

    The deuterium fractionation of gas-phase molecules in hot cores is believed to reflect the composition of interstellar ices. The deuteration of methanol is a major puzzle, however, because the isotopologue ratio [CH2DOH]/[CH3OD], which is predicted to be equal to 3 by standard grain chemistry models, is much larger (~20) in low-mass hot corinos and significantly lower (~1) in high-mass hot cores. This dichotomy in methanol deuteration between low-mass and massive protostars is currently not understood. In this study, we report a simplified rate equation model of the deuterium chemistry occurring in the icy mantles of interstellar grains. We apply this model to the chemistry of hot corinos and hot cores, with IRAS 16293-2422 and the Orion KL Compact Ridge as prototypes, respectively. The chemistry is based on a statistical initial deuteration at low temperature followed by a warm-up phase during which thermal hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchanges occur between water and methanol. The exchange kinetics is incorporated using laboratory data. The [CH2DOH]/[CH3OD] ratio is found to scale inversely with the D/H ratio of water, owing to the H/D exchange equilibrium between the hydroxyl (-OH) functional groups of methanol and water. Our model is able to reproduce the observed [CH2DOH]/[CH3OD] ratios provided that the primitive fractionation of water ice [HDO]/[H2O] is ~2% in IRAS 16293-2422 and ~0.6% in Orion KL. We conclude that the molecular D/H ratios measured in hot cores may not be representative of the original mantles because molecules with exchangeable deuterium atoms can equilibrate with water ice during the warm-up phase.

  20. Catalysts Based on Earth-Abundant Metals for Visible Light-Driven Water Oxidation Reaction.

    PubMed

    Lin, Junqi; Han, Qing; Ding, Yong

    2018-06-04

    Exploration of water oxidation catalyst (WOC) with excellent performance is the key for the overall water splitting reaction, which is a feasible strategy to convert solar energy to chemical energy. Although some compounds composed of noble metals, mainly Ru and Ir, have been reported to catalyze water oxidation with high efficiency, catalysts based on low-cost and earth-abundant transition metals are essential for realizing economical and large-scale light-driven water splitting. Various WOCs containing earth-abundant metals (mainly Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) have been utilized for visible light-driven water oxidation in recent years. In this Personal Account, we summarize our recent developments in WOCs based on earth-abundant transition metals including polyoxometalates (POMs), metal oxides or bimetal oxides, and metal complexes containing multidentate ligand scaffolds for visible light-driven water oxidation reaction. © 2018 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  1. The minimal ice water caloric test compared with established vestibular caloric test procedures.

    PubMed

    Schmäl, Frank; Lübben, Björn; Weiberg, Kerstin; Stoll, Wolfgang

    2005-01-01

    Caloric testing of the vestibular labyrinth is usually performed by classical caloric test procedures (CCTP) using water warmed to 30 degrees C and 44 degrees C. Ice water irrigation (4 degrees C) is usually not performed, although it might be useful as a bedside test. To verify the validity of the Minimal Ice Water Caloric Test (MIWCT), comparative video-oculographic investigations were performed in 22 healthy subjects using ice water (0.5 ml, 1.0 ml, 2 ml), CCTP, and cold air (27 degrees C). Frequency, amplitude, slow phase velocity (SPV), the onset, and the duration of nystagmus were documented. After addition of three ice cubes, the temperature of conventional tap water (16 degrees C) fell within 13 min to 4 degrees C. In pessimum position the subjects demonstrated no nystagmus response. Compared to CCTP, MIWCT was associated with a significantly later onset of nystagmus and a significant prolongation of the nystagmus reaction. In contrast to air stimulation (27 degrees C), a significant Spearman's correlation was noted between MIWCT (1 and 2 ml) and established CCTP in respect of essential nystagmus parameters (frequency, amplitude and SPV). Furthermore, MIWCT (0.5 and 1 ml) showed a higher sensitivity and specificity with regard to the detection of canal paresis based on Jongkees' formula compared to stimulation with air 27 degrees C. Thus, MIWCT appears to be a suitable procedure for bedside investigation of vestibular function outside the vestibular laboratory, e.g. in a hospital ward, where bedridden patients with vertigo occasionally require vestibular testing.

  2. Evaporation of ice in planetary atmospheres - Ice-covered rivers on Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wallace, D.; Sagan, C.

    1979-01-01

    The existence of ice covered rivers on Mars is considered. It is noted that the evaporation rate of water ice on the surface of a planet with an atmosphere involves an equilibrium between solar heating and radiative and evaporative cooling of the ice layer. It is determined that even with a mean Martian insolation rate above the ice of approximately 10 to the -8th g per sq cm/sec, a flowing channel of liquid water will be covered by ice which evaporates sufficiently slowly that the water below can flow for hundreds of kilometers even with modest discharges. Evaporation rates are calculated for a range of frictional velocities, atmospheric pressures, and insolations and it is suggested that some subset of observed Martian channels may have formed as ice-choked rivers. Finally, the exobiological implications of ice covered channels or lakes on Mars are discussed.

  3. Diversity and Abundance of Ice Nucleating Strains of Pseudomonas syringae in a Freshwater Lake in Virginia, USA.

    PubMed

    Pietsch, Renée B; Vinatzer, Boris A; Schmale, David G

    2017-01-01

    The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae is found in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic environments. Some strains of P. syringae express an ice nucleation protein (hereafter referred to as Ice+) allowing them to catalyze the heterogeneous freezing of water. Though P. syringae has been sampled intensively from freshwater sources in France, little is known about the genetic diversity of P. syringae in natural aquatic habitats in North America. We collected samples of freshwater from three different depths in Claytor Lake, Virginia, USA between November 2015 and June 2016. Samples were plated on non-selective medium (TSA) and on medium selective for Pseudomonas (KBC) and closely related species to estimate the total number of culturable bacteria and of Pseudomonas , respectively. A droplet freezing assay was used to screen colonies for the Ice+ phenotype. Ice+ colonies were then molecularly identified based on the cts (citrate synthase) gene and the 16S rDNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis of cts sequences showed a surprising diversity of phylogenetic subgroups of P. syringae . Frequencies of Ice+ isolates on P. syringae selective medium ranged from 0 to 15% per sample with the highest frequency being found in spring. Our work shows that freshwater lakes can be a significant reservoir of Ice+ P. syringae . Future work is needed to determine the contribution of P. syringae from freshwater lakes to the P. syringae populations present in the atmosphere and on plants and, in particular, if freshwater lakes could be an inoculum source of P. syringae -caused plant disease outbreaks.

  4. Material Excavated by a Fresh Impact and Identified as Water Ice

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2009-09-24

    The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, an instrument on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, obtained information confirming material excavated by a fresh impact and Identified as water ice.

  5. Seasonal Variation in Abundance and Diversity of Bacterial Methanotrophs in Five Temperate Lakes

    PubMed Central

    Samad, Md Sainur; Bertilsson, Stefan

    2017-01-01

    Lakes are significant sources of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. Within these systems, methanotrophs consume CH4 and act as a potential biofilter mitigating the emission of this potent greenhouse gas. However, it is still not well understood how spatial and temporal variation in environmental parameters influence the abundance, diversity, and community structure of methanotrophs in lakes. To address this gap in knowledge, we collected water samples from three depths (surface, middle, and bottom) representing oxic to suboxic or anoxic zones of five different Swedish lakes in winter (ice-covered) and summer. Methanotroph abundance was determined by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction and a comparison to environmental variables showed that temperature, season as well as depth, phosphate concentration, dissolved oxygen, and CH4 explained the observed variation in methanotroph abundance. Due to minimal differences in methane concentrations (0.19 and 0.29 μM for summer and winter, respectively), only a weak and even negative correlation was observed between CH4 and methanotrophs, which was possibly due to usage of CH4. Methanotrophs were present at concentrations ranging from 105 to 106 copies/l throughout the oxic (surface) and suboxic/anoxic (bottom) water mass of the lakes, but always contributed less than 1.3% to the total microbial community. Relative methanotroph abundance was significantly higher in winter than in summer and consistently increased with depth in the lakes. Phylogenetic analysis of pmoA genes in two clone libraries from two of the ice-covered lakes (Ekoln and Ramsen) separated the methanotrophs into five distinct clusters of Methylobacter sp. (Type I). Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the pmoA gene further revealed significant differences in methanotrophic communities between lakes as well as between winter and summer while there were no significant differences between water layers. The study provides new

  6. Effect of en-glacial water on ice sheet temperatures in a warming climate - a model approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Phillips, T. P.; Rajaram, H.; Steffen, K.

    2009-12-01

    Each summer, significant amount of melt is generated in the ablation zones of large glaciers and ice sheets. This melt does not run off on the surface of the glacier or ice sheet. In fact a significant fraction enters the glacier and flows through en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrologic systems. Correspondingly, the en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrologic systems are brought to a temperature close to the pressure melting point of ice. The thermal influence of these hydrologic processes is seldom incorporated in heat transfer models for glaciers and ice sheets. In a warming climate, as melt water generation is amplified, en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrologic processes can influence the thermal dynamics of an ice sheet significantly, a feedback which is missed in current models. Although the role of refreezing melt water in the firn of the accumulation zone is often accounted for to explain warmer near-surface temperatures, the role of melt water flow within a glacier is not considered in large ice sheet models. We propose a simple parameterization of the influence of en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrology on the thermal dynamics of ice sheets, in the form of a dual-column model. Our model basically modifies the classical Budd column model for temperature variations in ice sheets by introducing an interaction with an en-glacial column, where the temperature is brought to the melting point during the melt season, and winter-time refreezing is influenced by latent heat effects associated with water retained within the en-glacial and sub-glacial systems. A cryo-hydraulic heat exchange coefficient ς is defined, as a parameter that quantifies this interaction. The parameter ς is related to k/R^2, where R is the characteristic spacing between en-glacial passages. The general behavior of the dual-column model is influenced by the competition between cooling by horizontal advection and warming by cryo-hydraulic exchange. We present a dimensionless parameter to quantify this

  7. Comparison of carbon monoxide levels during heating of ice and water to boiling point with a camping stove.

    PubMed

    Leigh-Smith, Simon; Watt, Ian; McFadyen, Angus; Grant, Stan

    2004-01-01

    To determine whether using a camping stove to bring a pan of ice to boiling point produces higher carbon monoxide (CO) concentration than would bringing a pan of water to boiling point. The hypothesis was that ice would cause greater CO concentration because of its greater flame-cooling effect and, consequently, more incomplete combustion. This was a randomized, prospective observational study. After an initial pilot study, CO concentration was monitored during 10 trials for each of ice and water. A partially ventilated 200-L cardboard box model was developed and then used inside a chamber at -6 degrees C. Ice temperature and volume, water temperature and volume, pan size, and flame characteristics were all standardized. Temperature of the heated medium was monitored to determine time to boiling point. Carbon monoxide concentration was monitored every 30 seconds for the first 3 minutes, then every minute until the end of each 10-minute trial. There was no significant difference (P > .05) in CO production levels between ice and water. Each achieved a similar mean plateau level of approximately 400 ppm CO concentration with a similar rate of rise. However, significantly higher (P = .014) CO concentration occurred at 4 and 5 minutes when the flame underwent a yellow flare; this occurred only on 3 occasions when ice was the medium. There were no significant differences for CO production between bringing a pan of ice or water to boiling point. In a small number of ice trials, the presence of a yellow flame resulted in high CO concentration. Yellow flares might occur more often with ice or snow melting, but this has not been proven.

  8. Operationally Monitoring Sea Ice at the Canadian Ice Service

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Abreu, R.; Flett, D.; Carrieres, T.; Falkingham, J.

    2004-05-01

    The Canadian Ice Service (CIS) of the Meteorological Service of Canada promotes safe and efficient maritime operations and protects Canada's environment by providing reliable and timely information about ice and iceberg conditions in Canadian waters. Daily and seasonal charts describing the extent, type and concentration of sea ice and icebergs are provided to support navigation and other activities (e.g. oil and gas) in coastal waters. The CIS relies on a suite of spaceborne visible, infrared and microwave sensors to operationally monitor ice conditions in Canadian coastal and inland waterways. These efforts are complemented by operational sea ice models that are customized and run at the CIS. The archive of these data represent a 35 year archive of ice conditions and have proven to be a valuable dataset for historical sea ice analysis. This presentation will describe the daily integration of remote sensing observations and modelled ice conditions used to produce ice and iceberg products. A review of the decadal evolution of this process will be presented, as well as a glimpse into the future of ice and iceberg monitoring. Examples of the utility of the CIS digital sea ice archive for climate studies will also be presented.

  9. Studies of cavitation and ice nucleation in 'doubly-metastable' water: time-lapse photography and neutron diffraction.

    PubMed

    Barrow, Matthew S; Williams, P Rhodri; Chan, Hoi-Houng; Dore, John C; Bellissent-Funel, Marie-Claire

    2012-10-14

    High-speed photographic studies and neutron diffraction measurements have been made of water under tension in a Berthelot tube. Liquid water was cooled below the normal ice-nucleation temperature and was in a doubly-metastable state prior to a collapse of the liquid state. This transition was accompanied by an exothermic heat release corresponding with the rapid production of a solid phase nucleated by cavitation. Photographic techniques have been used to observe the phase transition over short time scales in which a solidification front is observed to propagate through the sample. Significantly, other images at a shorter time interval reveal the prior formation of cavitation bubbles at the beginning of the process. The ice-nucleation process is explained in terms of a mechanism involving hydrodynamically-induced changes in tension in supercooled water in the near vicinity of an expanding cavitation bubble. Previous explanations have attributed the nucleation of the solid phase to the production of high positive pressures. Corresponding results are presented which show the initial neutron diffraction pattern after ice-nucleation. The observed pattern does not exhibit the usual crystalline pattern of hexagonal ice [I(h)] that is formed under ambient conditions, but indicates the presence of other ice forms. The composite features can be attributed to a mixture of amorphous ice, ice-I(h)/I(c) and the high-pressure form, ice-III, and the diffraction pattern continues to evolve over a time period of about an hour.

  10. ICE911 Research: Floating Safe Inert Materials to Preserve Ice and Conserve Water in Order to Mitigate Climate Change Impacts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Field, L. A.; Manzara, A.; Chetty, S.; Venkatesh, S.; Scholtz, A.

    2015-12-01

    Ice911 Research has conducted years of field testing to develop and test localized reversible engineering techniques to mitigate the negative impacts of polar ice melt. The technology uses environmentally safe materials to reflect energy in carefully selected, limited areas from summertime polar sun. The technology is now being adapted to help with California's drought. We have tested the albedo modification technique on a small scale over seven Winter/Spring seasons at sites including California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, a Canadian lake, and a small artificial pond in Minnesota about 100 ft in diameter and 6 ft deep at the center, using various materials and an evolving array of instrumentation. On the pond in Minnesota, this year's test results for ice preservation, using hollow glass spheres deployed over our largest test areas yet, showed that glass bubbles can provide an effective material for increasing albedo, significantly reducing the melting rate of ice. This year Ice911 also undertook its first small Arctic field test in Barrow, Alaska on a lake in Barrow's BEO area, and results are still coming in. The technology that Ice911 has been developing for ice preservation has also been shown to keep small test areas of water cooler, in various small-scale tests spanning years. We believe that with some adaptations of the technology, the materials can be applied to reservoirs and lakes to help stretch these precious resources further in California's ongoing drought. There are several distinct advantages for this method over alternatives such as large reverse osmosis projects or building new reservoirs, which could possibly allow a drought-stricken state to build fewer of these more-costly alternatives. First, applying an ecologically benign surface treatment of Ice911's materials can be accomplished within a season, at a lower cost, with far less secondary environmental impact, than such capital-and-time-intensive infrastructure projects. Second, keeping

  11. Destruction of C2H4O2 isomers in ice-phase by X-rays: Implication on the abundance of acetic acid and methyl formate in the interstellar medium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rachid, Marina G.; Faquine, Karla; Pilling, S.

    2017-12-01

    The C2H4O2 isomers methyl formate (HCOOCH3), acetic acid (CH3COOH) and glycoaldehyde (HOCH2CHO) have been detected in molecular clouds in the interstellar medium, as well as, hot cores, hot corinos and around protostellar objects. However, their abundances are very different, being methyl formate more abundant than the other two isomers. This fact may be related to the different destruction by ionizing radiation of these molecules. The goal of this work is experimentally study the photodissociation processes of methyl formate and acetic acid ices when exposed to broadband soft X-ray from 6 up to 2000 eV. The experiments were performed coupled to the SGM beamline in the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source (LNLS/CNPEM) at Campinas, Brazil. The simulated astrophysical ices (12 K) were monitored throughout the experiment using infrared vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR). The analysis of processed ices allowed the determination of the effective destruction cross sections of the parent molecules as well as the effective formation cross section of daughter molecular species such as CO, CO2, H2O, CH4 and H2CO (only for methyl formate) and the hydrocarbons C2H6 and C5H10 (only for acetic acid). The half-lives of molecules at ices toward young stellar objects (YSOs) and inside molecular clouds (e.g. Sgr B2 and W51) due to the presence of incoming soft X-rays were estimated. We determined the effective formation rate and the branching ratios for assigned daughter species after the establishment of a chemical equilibrium. The main product from photodissociation of both methyl formate and acetic acid is CO, that can be formed by recombination of ions, formed during the photodissociation, in the ice surface. The relative abundance between methyl formate and acetic acid (NCH3COOH/NHCOOCH3) in different astronomical scenarios and their column density evolution in the presence of X-rays were calculated. Our results suggest that such radiation field can be one of the factors that

  12. Simultaneous measurement of unfrozen water content and ice content in frozen soil using gamma ray attenuation and TDR

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhou, Xiaohai; Zhou, Jian; Kinzelbach, Wolfgang; Stauffer, Fritz

    2014-12-01

    The freezing temperature of water in soil is not constant but varies over a range determined by soil texture. Consequently, the amounts of unfrozen water and ice change with temperature in frozen soil, which in turn affects hydraulic, thermal, and mechanical properties of frozen soil. In this paper, an Am-241 gamma ray source and time-domain reflectometry (TDR) were combined to measure unfrozen water content and ice content in frozen soil simultaneously. The gamma ray attenuation was used to determine total water content. The TDR was used to determine the dielectric constant of the frozen soil. Based on a four-phase mixing model, the amount of unfrozen water content in the frozen soil could be determined. The ice content was inferred by the difference between total water content and unfrozen water content. The gamma ray attenuation and the TDR were both calibrated by a gravimetric method. Water contents measured by gamma ray attenuation and TDR in an unfrozen silt column under infiltration were compared and showed that the two methods have the same accuracy and response to changes of water content. Unidirectional column freezing experiments were performed to apply the combined method of gamma ray attenuation and TDR for measuring unfrozen water content and ice content. The measurement error of the gamma ray attenuation and TDR was around 0.02 and 0.01 m3/m3, respectively. The overestimation of unfrozen water in frozen soil by TDR alone was quantified and found to depend on the amount of ice content. The higher the ice content, the larger the overestimation. The study confirmed that the combined method could accurately determine unfrozen water content and ice content in frozen soil. The results of soil column freezing experiments indicate that total water content distribution is affected by available pore space and the freezing front advance rate. It was found that there is similarity between the soil water characteristic and the soil freezing characteristic of

  13. Classical and quantum theories of proton disorder in hexagonal water ice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benton, Owen; Sikora, Olga; Shannon, Nic

    2016-03-01

    It has been known since the pioneering work of Bernal, Fowler, and Pauling that common, hexagonal (Ih) water ice is the archetype of a frustrated material: a proton-bonded network in which protons satisfy strong local constraints (the "ice rules") but do not order. While this proton disorder is well established, there is now a growing body of evidence that quantum effects may also have a role to play in the physics of ice at low temperatures. In this paper, we use a combination of numerical and analytic techniques to explore the nature of proton correlations in both classical and quantum models of ice Ih. In the case of classical ice Ih, we find that the ice rules have two, distinct, consequences for scattering experiments: singular "pinch points," reflecting a zero-divergence condition on the uniform polarization of the crystal, and broad, asymmetric features, coming from its staggered polarization. In the case of the quantum model, we find that the collective quantum tunneling of groups of protons can convert states obeying the ice rules into a quantum liquid, whose excitations are birefringent, emergent photons. We make explicit predictions for scattering experiments on both classical and quantum ice Ih, and show how the quantum theory can explain the "wings" of incoherent inelastic scattering observed in recent neutron scattering experiments [Bove et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 165901 (2009), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.165901]. These results raise the intriguing possibility that the protons in ice Ih could form a quantum liquid at low temperatures, in which protons are not merely disordered, but continually fluctuate between different configurations obeying the ice rules.

  14. Ice Shelf-Ocean Interactions Near Ice Rises and Ice Rumples

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lange, M. A.; Rückamp, M.; Kleiner, T.

    2013-12-01

    The stability of ice shelves depends on the existence of embayments and is largely influenced by ice rises and ice rumples, which act as 'pinning-points' for ice shelf movement. Of additional critical importance are interactions between ice shelves and the water masses underlying them in ice shelf cavities, particularly melting and refreezing processes. The present study aims to elucidate the role of ice rises and ice rumples in the context of climate change impacts on Antarctic ice shelves. However, due to their smaller spatial extent, ice rumples react more sensitively to climate change than ice rises. Different forcings are at work and need to be considered separately as well as synergistically. In order to address these issues, we have decided to deal with the following three issues explicitly: oceanographic-, cryospheric and general topics. In so doing, we paid particular attention to possible interrelationships and feedbacks in a coupled ice-shelf-ocean system. With regard to oceanographic issues, we have applied the ocean circulation model ROMBAX to ocean water masses adjacent to and underneath a number of idealized ice shelf configurations: wide and narrow as well as laterally restrained and unrestrained ice shelves. Simulations were performed with and without small ice rises located close to the calving front. For larger configurations, the impact of the ice rises on melt rates at the ice shelf base is negligible, while for smaller configurations net melting rates at the ice-shelf base differ by a factor of up to eight depending on whether ice rises are considered or not. We employed the thermo-coupled ice flow model TIM-FD3 to simulate the effects of several ice rises and one ice rumple on the dynamics of ice shelf flow. We considered the complete un-grounding of the ice shelf in order to investigate the effect of pinning points of different characteristics (interior or near calving front, small and medium sized) on the resulting flow and stress fields

  15. On the state of water ice on saturn's moon Titan and implications to icy bodies in the outer solar system.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Weijun; Jewitt, David; Kaiser, Ralf I

    2009-10-22

    The crystalline state of water ice in the Solar System depends on the temperature history of the ice and the influence of energetic particles to which it has been exposed. We measured the infrared absorption spectra of amorphous and crystalline water ice in the 10-50 K and 10-140 K temperature ranges, respectively, and conducted a systematic experimental study to investigate the amorphization of crystalline water ice via ionizing radiation irradiation at doses of up to 160 +/- 30 eV per molecule. We found that crystalline water ice can be converted only partially to amorphous ice by electron irradiation. The experiments showed that a fraction of the 1.65 microm band, which is characteristic for crystalline water ice, survived the irradiation, to a degree that strongly depends on the temperature. Quantitative kinetic fits of the temporal evolution of the 1.65 mum band clearly demonstrate that there is a balance between thermal recrystallization and irradiation-induced amorphization, with thermal recrystallizaton dominant at higher temperatures. Our experiments show the amorphization at 40 K was incomplete, in contradiction to Mastrapa and Brown's conclusion (Icarus 2006, 183, 207.). At 50 K, the recrystallization due to thermal effects is strong, and most of the crystalline ice survived. Temperatures of most icy objects in the Solar System, including Jovian satellites, Saturnian satellites (including Titan), and Kuiper Belt Objects, are equal to or above 50 K; this explains why water ice detected on those objects is mostly crystalline.

  16. Efficient surface formation route of interstellar hydroxylamine through NO hydrogenation. II. The multilayer regime in interstellar relevant ices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fedoseev, G.; Ioppolo, S.; Lamberts, T.; Zhen, J. F.; Cuppen, H. M.; Linnartz, H.

    2012-08-01

    Hydroxylamine (NH2OH) is one of the potential precursors of complex pre-biotic species in space. Here, we present a detailed experimental study of hydroxylamine formation through nitric oxide (NO) surface hydrogenation for astronomically relevant conditions. The aim of this work is to investigate hydroxylamine formation efficiencies in polar (water-rich) and non-polar (carbon monoxide-rich) interstellar ice analogues. A complex reaction network involving both final (N2O, NH2OH) and intermediate (HNO, NH2O., etc.) products is discussed. The main conclusion is that hydroxyl-amine formation takes place via a fast and barrierless mechanism and it is found to be even more abundantly formed in a water-rich environment at lower temperatures. In parallel, we experimentally verify the non-formation of hydroxylamine upon UV photolysis of NO ice at cryogenic temperatures as well as the non-detection of NC- and NCO-bond bearing species after UV processing of NO in carbon monoxide-rich ices. Our results are implemented into an astrochemical reaction model, which shows that NH2OH is abundant in the solid phase under dark molecular cloud conditions. Once NH2OH desorbs from the ice grains, it becomes available to form more complex species (e.g., glycine and β-alanine) in gas phase reaction schemes.

  17. The potential influence of Asian and African mineral dust on ice, mixed-phase and liquid water clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wiacek, A.; Peter, T.; Lohmann, U.

    2010-09-01

    This modelling study explores the availability of mineral dust particles as ice nuclei for interactions with ice, mixed-phase and liquid water clouds, also tracking the particles' history of cloud-processing. We performed 61 320 one-week forward trajectory calculations originating near the surface of major dust emitting regions in Africa and Asia using high-resolution meteorological analysis fields for the year 2007. Dust-bearing trajectories were assumed to be those coinciding with known dust emission seasons, without explicitly modelling dust emission and deposition processes. We found that dust emissions from Asian deserts lead to a higher potential for interactions with high ice clouds, despite being the climatologically much smaller dust emission source. This is due to Asian regions experiencing significantly more ascent than African regions, with strongest ascent in the Asian Taklimakan desert at ~25%, ~40% and 10% of trajectories ascending to 300 hPa in spring, summer and fall, respectively. The specific humidity at each trajectory's starting point was transported in a Lagrangian manner and relative humidities with respect to water and ice were calculated in 6-h steps downstream, allowing us to estimate the formation of liquid, mixed-phase and ice clouds. Downstream of the investigated dust sources, practically none of the simulated air parcels reached conditions of homogeneous ice nucleation (T≲-40 °C) along trajectories that have not experienced water saturation first. By far the largest fraction of cloud forming trajectories entered conditions of mixed-phase clouds, where mineral dust will potentially exert the biggest influence. The majority of trajectories also passed through atmospheric regions supersaturated with respect to ice but subsaturated with respect to water, where so-called "warm ice clouds" (T≳-40 °C) theoretically may form prior to supercooled water or mixed-phase clouds. The importance of "warm ice clouds" and the general influence

  18. Understanding Ice Shelf Basal Melting Using Convergent ICEPOD Data Sets: ROSETTA-Ice Study of Ross Ice Shelf

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bell, R. E.; Frearson, N.; Tinto, K. J.; Das, I.; Fricker, H. A.; Siddoway, C. S.; Padman, L.

    2017-12-01

    The future stability of the ice shelves surrounding Antarctica will be susceptible to increases in both surface and basal melt as the atmosphere and ocean warm. The ROSETTA-Ice program is targeted at using the ICEPOD airborne technology to produce new constraints on Ross Ice Shelf, the underlying ocean, bathymetry, and geologic setting, using radar sounding, gravimetry and laser altimetry. This convergent approach to studying the ice-shelf and basal processes enables us to develop an understanding of the fundamental controls on ice-shelf evolution. This work leverages the stratigraphy of the ice shelf, which is detected as individual reflectors by the shallow-ice radar and is often associated with surface scour, form close to the grounding line or pinning points on the ice shelf. Surface accumulation on the ice shelf buries these reflectors as the ice flows towards the calving front. This distinctive stratigraphy can be traced across the ice shelf for the major East Antarctic outlet glaciers and West Antarctic ice streams. Changes in the ice thickness below these reflectors are a result of strain and basal melting and freezing. Correcting the estimated thickness changes for strain using RIGGS strain measurements, we can develop decadal-resolution flowline distributions of basal melt. Close to East Antarctica elevated melt-rates (>1 m/yr) are found 60-100 km from the calving front. On the West Antarctic side high melt rates primarily develop within 10 km of the calving front. The East Antarctic side of Ross Ice Shelf is dominated by melt driven by saline water masses that develop in Ross Sea polynyas, while the melting on the West Antarctic side next to Hayes Bank is associated with modified Continental Deep Water transported along the continental shelf. The two sides of Ross Ice Shelf experience differing basal melt in part due to the duality in the underlying geologic structure: the East Antarctic side consists of relatively dense crust, with low amplitude

  19. Trapping of Methanol, Hydrogen Cyanide, and n-Hexane in Water Ice, above Its Transformation Temperature to the Crystalline Form

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Notesco, G.; Bar-Nun, A.

    1997-04-01

    HCN and n-C 6H 14were found experimentally to be trapped in water ice, when codeposited with water vapor on a cold plate, at 140 K and CH 3OH even at 160 K. At these temperatures at least part of the water ice is cystalline. These three gases have relatively high sublimation temperatures, whereas the gases studied earlier, Ar, Kr, Xe, CO, CH 4, and N 2, which have lower sublimination temperatures, are trapped only in amorphous water ice, up to ˜100 K. It seems that the major factor determining the efficiency of gas trapping by water ice, during codeposition of a gas-water vapor mixture on a cold plate, is the sublimation temperatures of the gases to be trapped. Those with a high sublimation temperature remain, during codeposition, longer in the pores of the water ice which are open to the surface, until they are covered by additional ice layers. Only methanol seems to form a clathrate hydrate, in agreement with the experimental results of D. Blake et al.(1991), Science254, 548-551), which points to the importance of the interaction of the gas molecules with the water molecules in the ice. Consequently, comets and icy satellites that were formed in the Jupiter-Saturn region and their subnebulae could trap CH 3OH, HCN, and heavy hydrocarbons, whereas comets and icy satellites that were formed in the Uranus-Neptune region, at the outskirts of the Saturnian subnebulae (Titan), and beyond the planets in the Kuiper belt could trap also gases having lower sublimation temperatures.

  20. What Governs Ice-Sticking in Planetary Science Experiments?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaertner, Sabrina; Gundlach, B.; Blum, J.; Fraser, H. J.

    2018-06-01

    Water ice plays an important role, alongside dust, in current theories of planet formation. Decades of laboratory experiments have proven that water ice is far stickier in particle collisions than dust. However, water ice is known to be a metastable material. Its physical properties strongly depend on its environmental parameters, the foremost being temperature and pressure. As a result, the properties of ice change not only with the environment it is observed in, but also with its thermal history.The abundance of ice structures that can be created by different environments likely explains the discrepancies observed across the multitude of collisional laboratory studies in the past [1-16]; unless the ices for such experiments have been prepared in the same way and are collided under the same environmental conditions, these experiments simply do not collide the same ices.This raises several questions:1. Which conditions and ice properties are most favourable for ice sticking?2. Which conditions and ice properties are closest to the ones observed in protoplanetary disks?3. To what extent do these two regimes overlap?4. Consequently, which collisional studies are most relevant to planetary science and therefore best suited to inform models of planet formation?In this presentation, I will give a non-exhaustive overview of what we already know about the properties of ice particles, covering those used in planetary science experiments and those observed in planet forming regions. I will discuss to what extent we can already answer questions 1-3, and what information we still need to obtain from observations, laboratory experiments, and modelling to be able to answer question 4.References:1. Bridges et al. 1984 Natur 309.2. Bridges et al. 1996 Icar 123.3. Deckers & Teiser 2016 MNRAS 456.4. Dilley & Crawford 1996 JGRE 101.5. Gundlach & Blum 2015 ApJ 798.6. Hatzes et al. 1991 Icar 89.7. Hatzes et al. 1988 MNRAS 231.8. Heißelmann et al. 2010 Icar 206.9. Higa et al. 1996 P

  1. Homogeneous ice nucleation from aqueous inorganic/organic particles representative of biomass burning: water activity, freezing temperatures, nucleation rates.

    PubMed

    Knopf, Daniel A; Rigg, Yannick J

    2011-02-10

    Homogeneous ice nucleation plays an important role in the formation of cirrus clouds with subsequent effects on the global radiative budget. Here we report on homogeneous ice nucleation temperatures and corresponding nucleation rate coefficients of aqueous droplets serving as surrogates of biomass burning aerosol. Micrometer-sized (NH(4))(2)SO(4)/levoglucosan droplets with mass ratios of 10:1, 1:1, 1:5, and 1:10 and aqueous multicomponent organic droplets with and without (NH(4))(2)SO(4) under typical tropospheric temperatures and relative humidities are investigated experimentally using a droplet conditioning and ice nucleation apparatus coupled to an optical microscope with image analysis. Homogeneous freezing was determined as a function of temperature and water activity, a(w), which was set at droplet preparation conditions. The ice nucleation data indicate that minor addition of (NH(4))(2)SO(4) to the aqueous organic droplets renders the temperature dependency of water activity negligible in contrast to the case of aqueous organic solution droplets. The mean homogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient derived from 8 different aqueous droplet compositions with average diameters of ∼60 μm for temperatures as low as 195 K and a(w) of 0.82-1 is 2.18 × 10(6) cm(-3) s(-1). The experimentally derived freezing temperatures and homogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficients are in agreement with predictions of the water activity-based homogeneous ice nucleation theory when taking predictive uncertainties into account. However, the presented ice nucleation data indicate that the water activity-based homogeneous ice nucleation theory overpredicts the freezing temperatures by up to 3 K and corresponding ice nucleation rate coefficients by up to ∼2 orders of magnitude. A shift of 0.01 in a(w), which is well within the uncertainty of typical field and laboratory relative humidity measurements, brings experimental and predicted freezing temperatures and homogeneous ice

  2. Search for water and life's building blocks in the Universe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kwok, Sun; Bergin, Edwin; Ehrenfreund, Pascale

    Water is the common ground between astronomy and planetary science as the presence of water on a planet is universally accepted as essential for its potential habitability. Water assists many biological chemical reactions leading to complexity by acting as an effective solvent. It shapes the geology and climate on rocky planets, and is a major or primary constituent of the solid bodies of the outer solar system. Water ice seems universal in space and is by far the most abundant condensed-phase species in our universe. Water-rich icy layers cover dust particles within the cold regions of the interstellar medium and molecular ices are widespread in the solar system. The poles of terrestrial planets (e.g. Earth, Mars) and most of the outer-solar-system satellites are covered with ice. Smaller solar system bodies, such as comets and Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs), contain a significant fraction of water ice and trace amounts of organics. Beneath the ice crust of several moons of Jupiter and Saturn liquid water oceans probably exist.

  3. Spatial Autocorrelation, Source Water and the Distribution of Total and Viable Microbial Abundances within a Crystalline Formation to a Depth of 800 m

    PubMed Central

    Beaton, E. D.; Stuart, Marilyne; Stroes-Gascoyne, Sim; King-Sharp, Karen J.; Gurban, Ioana; Festarini, Amy; Chen, Hui Q.

    2017-01-01

    Proposed radioactive waste repositories require long residence times within deep geological settings for which we have little knowledge of local or regional subsurface dynamics that could affect the transport of hazardous species over the period of radioactive decay. Given the role of microbial processes on element speciation and transport, knowledge and understanding of local microbial ecology within geological formations being considered as host formations can aid predictions for long term safety. In this relatively unexplored environment, sampling opportunities are few and opportunistic. We combined the data collected for geochemistry and microbial abundances from multiple sampling opportunities from within a proposed host formation and performed multivariate mixing and mass balance (M3) modeling, spatial analysis and generalized linear modeling to address whether recharge can explain how subsurface communities assemble within fracture water obtained from multiple saturated fractures accessed by boreholes drilled into the crystalline formation underlying the Chalk River Laboratories site (Deep River, ON, Canada). We found that three possible source waters, each of meteoric origin, explained 97% of the samples, these are: modern recharge, recharge from the period of the Laurentide ice sheet retreat (ca. ∼12000 years before present) and a putative saline source assigned as Champlain Sea (also ca. 12000 years before present). The distributed microbial abundances and geochemistry provide a conceptual model of two distinct regions within the subsurface associated with bicarbonate – used as a proxy for modern recharge – and manganese; these regions occur at depths relevant to a proposed repository within the formation. At the scale of sampling, the associated spatial autocorrelation means that abundances linked with geochemistry were not unambiguously discerned, although fine scale Moran’s eigenvector map (MEM) coefficients were correlated with the abundance

  4. Water generation and transport through the high-pressure ice layers of Titan and Ganymede

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kalousova, K.; Sotin, C.; Choblet, G.; Tobie, G.; Grasset, O.

    2017-09-01

    We investigate the generation and transport of water through the high-pressure (HP) ice layers of Ganymede and Titan using a numerical model of two-phase convection in 2D geometry. Our results suggest that water can be generated at the silicate/HP ice interface for small to intermediate values of Rayleigh number (Ra 1.e8-1.e10) while no melt is generated for the higher values (Ra 1.e11). If generated, water is transported through the layer by the upwelling plumes and, depending on the vigor of convection, it stays liquid (smaller Ra) or it may freeze (intermediate Ra) before melting again as the plume reaches the temperate layer at the interface with the ocean. The thickness of this layer as well as the amount of melt that is extracted from it is controlled by the HP ice permeability. This process may enable the transfer of volatiles and salts that might have been leached from silicates by the meltwater. Since the HP ice layer is much thinner on Titan than on Ganymede, it is probably more permeable for volatiles and salts leached from the silicate core.

  5. Single-particle characterization of ice-nucleating particles and ice particles residuals sampled by three different techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kandler, Konrad; Worringen, Annette; Benker, Nathalie; Dirsch, Thomas; Mertes, Stephan; Schenk, Ludwig; Kästner, Udo; Frank, Fabian; Nillius, Björn; Bundke, Ulrich; Rose, Diana; Curtius, Joachim; Kupiszewski, Piotr; Weingartner, Ernest; Vochezer, Paul; Schneider, Johannes; Schmidt, Susan; Weinbruch, Stephan; Ebert, Martin

    2015-04-01

    During January/February 2013, at the High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch a measurement campaign was carried out, which was centered on atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INP) and ice particle residuals (IPR). Three different techniques for separation of INP and IPR from the non-ice-active particles are compared. The Ice Selective Inlet (ISI) and the Ice Counterflow Virtual Impactor (Ice-CVI) sample ice particles from mixed phase clouds and allow for the analysis of the residuals. The combination of the Fast Ice Nucleus Chamber (FINCH) and the Ice Nuclei Pumped Counterflow Virtual Impactor (IN-PCVI) provides ice-activating conditions to aerosol particles and extracts the activated INP for analysis. Collected particles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis to determine size, chemical composition and mixing state. All INP/IPR-separating techniques had considerable abundances (median 20 - 70 %) of instrumental contamination artifacts (ISI: Si-O spheres, probably calibration aerosol; Ice-CVI: Al-O particles; FINCH+IN-PCVI: steel particles). Also, potential sampling artifacts (e.g., pure soluble material) occurred with a median abundance of < 20 %. While these could be explained as IPR by ice break-up, for INP their IN-ability pathway is less clear. After removal of the contamination artifacts, silicates and Ca-rich particles, carbonaceous material and metal oxides were the major INP/IPR particle types separated by all three techniques. Soot was a minor contributor. Lead was detected in less than 10 % of the particles, of which the majority were internal mixtures with other particle types. Sea-salt and sulfates were identified by all three methods as INP/IPR. Most samples showed a maximum of the INP/IPR size distribution at 400 nm geometric diameter. In a few cases, a second super-micron maximum was identified. Soot/carbonaceous material and metal oxides were present mainly in the submicron range. ISI and FINCH

  6. Determining the Water Ice Content of Martian Regolith by Nonlinear Spectral Mixture Modeling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gyalay, S.; Noe Dobrea, E. Z.

    2015-01-01

    In the search for evidence of life, Icebreaker will drill in to the Martian ice-rich regolith to collect samples, which will then be analyzed by an array of instruments designed to identify biomarkers. In addition, drilling into the subsurface will provide the opportunity to assess the vertical distribution of ice to a depth of 1 meter. The purpose of this particular project was to understand the uncertainties involved in the use of the imaging system to constrain the water ice content in regolith samples.

  7. Glacier-derived permafrost ground ice, Bylot Island, Nunavut

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coulombe, S.; Fortier, D.; Lacelle, D.; Godin, E.; Veillette, A.

    2014-12-01

    Massive icy bodies are important components of permafrost geosystems. In situ freezing of water in the ground by ice-segregation processes forms most of these icy bodies. Other hypotheses for the origin of massive ice include the burial of ice (e.g. glacier, snow, lake, river, sea). The analysis of ground-ice characteristics can give numerous clues about the geomorphologic processes and the thermal conditions at the time when permafrost developed. Massive underground ice therefore shows a great potential as a natural archive of the earth's past climate. Identifying the origin of massive ice is a challenge for permafrost science since the different types of massive ice remain difficult to distinguish on the sole basis of field observations. There is actually no clear method to accurately assess the origin of massive ice and identification criteria need to be defined. The present study uses physico-chemical techniques to characterize buried glacier ice observed on Bylot Island, Nunavut. Combined to the analysis of cryostratigraphy, massive-ice cores crystallography and high-resolution imagery of the internal structure of the ice cores were obtained using micro-computed tomography techniques. These techniques are well suited for detailed descriptions (shape, size, orientation) of crystals, gas inclusions and sediment inclusions. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes ratios of massive-ice cores were also obtained using common equilibrium technique. Preliminary results suggest the occurrence of two types of buried massive-ice of glacial origin similar to those found on contemporary glaciers: 1) Englacial ice: clear to whitish ice, with large crystals (cm) and abundant gas bubbles at crystal intersections; 2) Basal glacier ice: ice-rich, banded, micro-suspended to suspended cryostructures and ice-rich lenticular to layered cryostructures, with small ice crystals (mm) and a few disseminated gas bubbles. Glacier-derived permafrost contains antegenetic ice, which is ice that

  8. [Bacterial diversity within different sections of summer sea-ice samples from the Prydz Bay, Antarctica].

    PubMed

    Ma, Jifei; Du, Zongjun; Luo, Wei; Yu, Yong; Zeng, Yixin; Chen, Bo; Li, Huirong

    2013-02-04

    In order to assess bacterial abundance and diversity within three different sections of summer sea-ice samples collected from the Prydz Bay, Antarctica. Fluorescence in situ hybridization was applied to determine the proportions of Bacteria in sea-ice. Bacterial community composition within sea ice was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene clone library construction. Correlation analysis was performed between the physicochemical parameters and the bacterial diversity and abundance within sea ice. The result of fluorescence in situ hybridization shows that bacteria were abundant in the bottom section, and the concentration of total organic carbon, total organic nitrogen and phosphate may be the main factors for bacterial abundance. In bacterial 16S rRNA gene libraries of sea-ice, nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequences were grouped into three distinct lineages of Bacteria (gamma-Proteobacteria, alpha-Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes). Most clone sequences were related to cultured bacterial isolates from the marine environment, arctic and Antarctic sea-ice with high similarity. The member of Bacteroidetes was not detected in the bottom section of sea-ice. The bacterial communities within sea-ice were little heterogeneous at the genus-level between different sections, and the concentration of NH4+ may cause this distribution. The number of bacteria was abundant in the bottom section of sea-ice. Gamma-proteobacteria was the dominant bacterial lineage in sea-ice.

  9. Consequences of long-distance swimming and travel over deep-water pack ice for a female polar bear during a year of extreme sea ice retreat

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Durner, George M.; Whiteman, J.P.; Harlow, H.J.; Amstrup, Steven C.; Regehr, E.V.; Ben-David, M.

    2011-01-01

    Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) prefer to live on Arctic sea ice but may swim between ice floes or between sea ice and land. Although anecdotal observations suggest that polar bears are capable of swimming long distances, no data have been available to describe in detail long distance swimming events or the physiological and reproductive consequences of such behavior. Between an initial capture in late August and a recapture in late October 2008, a radio-collared adult female polar bear in the Beaufort Sea made a continuous swim of 687 km over 9 days and then intermittently swam and walked on the sea ice surface an additional 1,800 km. Measures of movement rate, hourly activity, and subcutaneous and external temperature revealed distinct profiles of swimming and walking. Between captures, this polar bear lost 22% of her body mass and her yearling cub. The extraordinary long distance swimming ability of polar bears, which we confirm here, may help them cope with reduced Arctic sea ice. Our observation, however, indicates that long distance swimming in Arctic waters, and travel over deep water pack ice, may result in high energetic costs and compromise reproductive fitness.

  10. An Assessment of the Icing Blade and the SEA Multi-Element Sensor for Liquid Water Content Calibration of the NASA GRC Icing Research Tunnel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steen, Laura E.; Ide, Robert F.; Van Zante, Judith F.

    2016-01-01

    The Icing Research Tunnel at NASA Glenn has recently switched from using the Icing Blade to using the SEA Multi-Element Sensor (also known as the multi-wire) for its calibration of cloud liquid water content. In order to peform this transition, tests were completed to compare the Multi-Element Sensor to the Icing Blade, particularly with respect to liquid water content, airspeed, and drop size. The two instruments were found to compare well for the majority of Appendix C conditions. However, it was discovered that the Icing Blade under-measures when the conditions approach the Ludlam Limit. This paper also describes data processing procedures for the Multi-Element Sensor in the IRT, including collision efficiency corrections, mounting underneath a splitter plate, and correcting for a jump in the compensation wire power. Further data is presented to describe the repeatability of the IRT with the Multi-Element Sensor, health-monitoring checks for the instrument, and a sensing-element configuration comparison. Ultimately these tests showed that in the IRT, the multi-wire is a better instrument for measuring cloud liquid water content than the blade.

  11. Numerical modeling of runback water on ice protected aircraft surfaces

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Al-Khalil, Kamel M.; Keith, Theo G., Jr.; Dewitt, Kenneth J.

    1992-01-01

    A numerical simulation for 'running wet' aircraft anti-icing systems is developed. The model includes breakup of the water film, which exists in regions of direct impingement, into individual rivulets. The wetness factor distribution resulting from the film breakup and the rivulet configuration on the surface are predicted in the numerical solution procedure. The solid wall is modeled as a multilayer structure and the anti-icing system used is of the thermal type utilizing hot air and/or electrical heating elements embedded with the layers. Details of the calculation procedure and the methods used are presented.

  12. Large-scale oil-in-ice experiment in the Barents Sea: monitoring of oil in water and MetOcean interactions.

    PubMed

    Faksness, Liv-Guri; Brandvik, Per Johan; Daae, Ragnhild L; Leirvik, Frode; Børseth, Jan Fredrik

    2011-05-01

    A large-scale field experiment took place in the marginal ice zone in the Barents Sea in May 2009. Fresh oil (7000 L) was released uncontained between the ice floes to study oil weathering and spreading in ice and surface water. A detailed monitoring of oil-in-water and ice interactions was performed throughout the six-day experiment. In addition, meteorological and oceanographic data were recorded for monitoring of the wind speed and direction, air temperature, currents and ice floe movements. The monitoring showed low concentrations of dissolved hydrocarbons and the predicted acute toxicity indicated that the acute toxicity was low. The ice field drifted nearly 80 km during the experimental period, and although the oil drifted with the ice, it remained contained between the ice floes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Ground ice formed after underground thermo-erosion of the permafrost in Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fortier, D.; Kanevskiy, M.; Yuri, S.

    2007-12-01

    Cryostratigraphic studies realized in the CRREL permafrost tunnel (¡Ö 64 57 N, 147 37 W) located near Fairbanks, Alaska revealed the presence of multi-directional reticulate ice veins and massive ice bodies in the permafrost. We propose that this reticulate-chaotic cryostructure and the massive ice bodies were formed by inward closed-system freezing of pools of water and saturated sediments trapped in underground tunnels cut in the permafrost by thermo-erosion. The massive ice and the multi-directional reticulate ice veins were likely formed after the cessation of the underground flow, either by tunnel blockage or collapse, or cessation of runoff infiltration in the permafrost. The observed tunnels were slightly inclined and could often be traced for several meters. The properties of the sediments filling these tunnels differed from the enclosing original syngenetic Pleistocene permafrost. The latter was made of ice-rich loess with abundant rootlets and was characterized by a well developed micro-lenticular cryostructure whereas the tunnels were filled with massive ice and/or organic- poor, stratified silts, sands and gravels sediments. The water content of the original syngenetic loess was about twice the water content of the sediments in the underground tunnels. The contact between the original syngenetic loess and the sediments in the tunnels was manifestly discordant and outlined by erosion lag. Release of latent heat from the poll of water and water of the saturated sediments created thaw unconformities at the tunnel boundary. Similar types of massive ice and reticulate-chaotic cryostructures were observed in Holocene to Pleistocene permafrost exposures along the Beaufort Sea Coast, on the Seward Peninsula, on the North Slope and in the Alaskan interior. The massive ice bodies and reticulate-chaotic cryostructures were always associated with, or incorporated within, ice wedges that showed signs of thermo-erosion. This indicates that the process of

  14. A Contextual Comparison of Native Ice Abundances in Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) based on Infrared Spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    DiSanti, Michael A.; Gibb, Erika L.; Roth, Nathanial; Bonev, Boncho P.; Keane, Jacqueline; Meech, Karen Jean; Villanueva, Geronimo Luis; Paganini, Lucas; Mumma, Michael J.

    2016-10-01

    The primitive nature of comets makes them the best available carriers of information pertaining to conditions in the early solar system. High-resolution spectrometers operating at IR wavelengths (~ 1 - 5 µm) permit quantifying molecular species (aka "parent volatiles") released into the coma upon sublimation of ices contained in the cometary nucleus (i.e., native ices). Over the past 20 years we used first CSHELL at the IRTF, then NIRSPEC at Keck and CRIRES at the VLT, amassing production rates and abundance ratios in 30-plus comets.We present a summary of molecular abundances in long period Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina), which passed perihelion on UT 2015 November 15.7 at heliocentric distance Rh = 0.822 AU. We used CSHELL on UT 2015 November 23 (Rh = 0.84 AU), December 15 - 17 (Rh = 1.0 AU) and 2016 February 28 (Rh = 1.95 AU), and NIRSPEC on 2016 January 24 (Rh = 1.49 AU). We targeted H2O, CO, H2CO, CH3OH, OCS, HCN, NH3, CH4, C2H2, and C2H6, and obtained production rates or stringent upper limits for all of these. This allowed testing for potential changes in relative abundances as a function of Rh. Such IR measurements spanning a range in Rh are still rare, but are very important for testing possible heterogeneous nucleus composition and/or heliocentric dependence of abundances, for example through release from grains heated in the coma. Our measurements will be inter-compared, and also placed in the context of our current (and continually evolving) compositional taxonomy of comets.We gratefully acknowledge support from the NASA Solar System Observations/Planetary Astronomy Program (SSO15-0028 to MAD, PAST11-0045 to MJM), Planetary Atmospheres Program (NNX12AG60G to BPB), NASA Astrobiology Institute (13-13NAI7-0032 to MJM, NN09DA77A to KJM), and NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants (AST-1211362 to BPB and ELG, and AST-1413736 to KJM). The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under contract NNH14CK55B with the National Aeronautics and Space

  15. Cold Water Vapor in the Barnard 5 Molecular Cloud

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wirstrom, E. S.; Charnley, S. B.; Persson, C. M.; Buckle, J. V.; Cordiner, M. A.; Takakuwa, S.

    2014-01-01

    After more than 30 yr of investigations, the nature of gas-grain interactions at low temperatures remains an unresolved issue in astrochemistry. Water ice is the dominant ice found in cold molecular clouds; however, there is only one region where cold ((is) approximately 10 K) water vapor has been detected-L1544. This study aims to shed light on ice desorption mechanisms under cold cloud conditions by expanding the sample. The clumpy distribution of methanol in dark clouds testifies to transient desorption processes at work-likely to also disrupt water ice mantles. Therefore, the Herschel HIFI instrument was used to search for cold water in a small sample of prominent methanol emission peaks. We report detections of the ground-state transition of o-H2O (J = 110-101) at 556.9360 GHz toward two positions in the cold molecular cloud, Barnard 5. The relative abundances of methanol and water gas support a desorption mechanism which disrupts the outer ice mantle layers, rather than causing complete mantle removal.

  16. Midplane Ices in the Embedded Phase

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Drozdovskaya, Maria; Walsh, Catherine; van Dishoeck, Ewine

    2015-08-01

    Icy grains in the midplanes of the youngest protoplanetary disks are the building blocks of protoplanets and protocometary bodies. Our Solar System shows significant chemical diversity. The chemical content is thought to be either inherited from the initial prestellar cloud, out of which our Solar System formed, or formed in-situ during the subsequent evolution of the protoplanetary disk. In this poster, the chemical analysis of midplanes in the context of globally evolving and collapsing star-forming systems will be presented. Previous studies compared various solid species relative to water ice in comets and towards young protostars [e.g., 1, 2, 3]. It remains unclear whether the overlap in abundances is just a coincidence or whether the origins of cometary ices are that of a prestellar cloud. For this work, an axisymmentric 2D semi-analytic collapse model [4], wavelength-dependent radiative transfer calculations with RADMC3D [5] and a comprehensive gas-grain chemical network [6] are used to pin down ice abundances in a midplane. The methanol content of protoplanetary disks will be presented [7], but also that of other main ice components, such as water, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide [8]. Our models can be used to probe the validity of theories on the origin of chemical complexity and also to access the degree of processing upon inheritance into the forming disk.[1] Öberg K. I., Boogert A. C. A., Pontoppidan K. M., van den Broek S., van Dishoeck E. F., Bottinelli S., Blake G. A., Evans, II N. J., 2011, ApJ, 740, 109[2] Mumma M. J., Charnley S. B., 2011, ARA&A, 49, 471[3] Bockelée-Morvan D. et al., 2000, A&A, 353, 1101[4] Visser R., van Dishoeck E. F., Doty S. D., Dullemond C. P., 2009, A&A, 495, 881[5] Dullemond C. P., Dominik C., 2004, A&A, 417, 159[6] Walsh C., Millar T. J., Nomura H., Herbst E., Widicus Weaver S., Aikawa Y., Laas J. C., Vasyunin A. I., 2014, A&A, 563, A33[7] Drozdovskaya M. N., Walsh C., Visser R., Harsono D., van Dishoeck E. F., 2014

  17. The potential influence of Asian and African mineral dust on ice, mixed-phase and liquid water clouds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wiacek, A.; Peter, T.; Lohmann, U.

    2010-02-01

    This modelling study explores the availability of mineral dust particles as ice nuclei for interactions with ice, mixed-phase and liquid water clouds, also tracking the particles' history of cloud-processing. We performed 61 320 one-week forward trajectory calculations originating near the surface of major dust emitting regions in Africa and Asia using high-resolution meteorological analysis fields for the year 2007. Without explicitly modelling dust emission and deposition processes, dust-bearing trajectories were assumed to be those coinciding with known dust emission seasons. We found that dust emissions from Asian deserts lead to a higher potential for interactions with high clouds, despite being the climatologically much smaller dust emission source. This is due to Asian regions experiencing significantly more ascent than African regions, with strongest ascent in the Asian Taklimakan desert at ~25%, ~40% and 10% of trajectories ascending to 300 hPa in spring, summer and fall, respectively. The specific humidity at each trajectory's starting point was transported in a Lagrangian manner and relative humidities with respect to water and ice were calculated in 6-h steps downstream, allowing us to estimate the formation of liquid, mixed-phase and ice clouds. Practically none of the simulated air parcels reached regions where homogeneous ice nucleation can take place (T≲-40 °C) along trajectories that have not experienced water saturation first. By far the largest fraction of cloud forming trajectories entered conditions of mixed-phase clouds, where mineral dust will potentially exert the biggest influence. The majority of trajectories also passed through regions supersaturated with respect to ice but subsaturated with respect to water, where "warm" (T≳-40 °C) ice clouds may form prior to supercooled water or mixed-phase clouds. The importance of "warm" ice clouds and the general influence of dust in the mixed-phase cloud region are highly uncertain due to

  18. An Assessment of the Icing Blade and the SEA Multi-Element Sensor for Liquid Water Content Calibration of the NASA GRC Icing Research Tunnel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Steen, Laura E.; Ide, Robert F.; Van Zante, Judith Foss

    2017-01-01

    The Icing Research Tunnel at NASA Glenn has recently switched to from using the Icing Blade to using the SEA Multi-Element Sensor (also known as the multi-wire) for its calibration of cloud liquid water content. In order to perform this transition, tests were completed to compare the Multi-Element Sensor to the Icing Blade, particularly with respect to liquid water content, airspeed, and drop size. The two instruments were found to compare well for the majority of Appendix C conditions. However, it was discovered that the Icing Blade under-measures when the conditions approach the Ludlam Limit. This paper also describes data processing procedures for the Multi-Element Sensor in the IRT, including collection efficiency corrections, mounting underneath a splitter plate, and correcting for a jump in the compensation wire power. Further data is presented to describe the repeatability of the IRT with the Multi-Element sensor, health-monitoring checks for the instrument, and a sensing-element configuration comparison.

  19. Methanol ice VUV photoprocessing: GC-MS analysis of volatile organic compounds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abou Mrad, Ninette; Duvernay, Fabrice; Chiavassa, Thierry; Danger, Grégoire

    2016-05-01

    Next to water, methanol is one of the most abundant molecules in astrophysical ices. A new experimental approach is presented here for the direct monitoring via gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of a sublimating photoprocessed pure methanol ice. Unprecedentedly, in a same analysis, compelling evidences for the formation of 33 volatile organic compounds are provided. The latter are C1-C6 products including alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, ethers and carboxylic acids. Few C3 and all C4 detected compounds have been identified for the first time. Tentative detections of few C5 and C6 compounds are also presented. GC-MS allows for the first time the direct quantification of C2-C4 photoproducts and shows that their abundances decrease with the increase of their carbon chain length. These qualitative and quantitative measurements provide important complementary results to previous experiments, and present interesting similarities with observations of sources rich in methanol.

  20. Single-particle characterization of ice-nucleating particles and ice particle residuals sampled by three different techniques

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Worringen, A.; Kandler, K.; Benker, N.; Dirsch, T.; Weinbruch, S.; Mertes, S.; Schenk, L.; Kästner, U.; Frank, F.; Nillius, B.; Bundke, U.; Rose, D.; Curtius, J.; Kupiszewski, P.; Weingartner, E.; Schneider, J.; Schmidt, S.; Ebert, M.

    2014-09-01

    In the present work, three different techniques are used to separate ice-nucleating particles (INP) and ice particle residuals (IPR) from non-ice-active particles: the Ice Selective Inlet (ISI) and the Ice Counterflow Virtual Impactor (Ice-CVI), which sample ice particles from mixed phase clouds and allow for the analysis of the residuals, as well as the combination of the Fast Ice Nucleus Chamber (FINCH) and the Ice Nuclei Pumped Virtual Impactor (IN-PCVI), which provides ice-activating conditions to aerosol particles and extracts the activated ones for analysis. The collected particles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis to determine their size, chemical composition and mixing state. Samples were taken during January/February 2013 at the High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch. All INP/IPR-separating techniques had considerable abundances (median 20-70%) of contamination artifacts (ISI: Si-O spheres, probably calibration aerosol; Ice-CVI: Al-O particles; FINCH + IN-PCVI: steel particles). Also, potential measurement artifacts (soluble material) occurred (median abundance < 20%). After removal of the contamination particles, silicates and Ca-rich particles, carbonaceous material and metal oxides were the major INP/IPR particle types separated by all three techniques. Minor types include soot and Pb-bearing particles. Sea-salt and sulfates were identified by all three methods as INP/IPR. Lead was identified in less than 10% of the INP/IPR. It was mainly present as an internal mixture with other particle types, but also external lead-rich particles were found. Most samples showed a maximum of the INP/IPR size distribution at 400 nm geometric diameter. In a few cases, a second super-micron maximum was identified. Soot/carbonaceous material and metal oxides were present mainly in the submicron range. ISI and FINCH yielded silicates and Ca-rich particles mainly with diameters above 1 μm, while the Ice-CVI also

  1. A water activity based model of heterogeneous ice nucleation kinetics for freezing of water and aqueous solution droplets

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Knopf, Daniel A.; Alpert, Peter A.

    Immersion freezing of water and aqueous solutions by particles acting as ice nuclei (IN) is a common process of heterogeneous ice nucleation which occurs in many environments, especially in the atmosphere where it results in the glaciation of clouds. Here we experimentally show, using a variety of IN types suspended in various aqueous solutions, that immersion freezing temperatures and kinetics can be described solely by temperature, T, and solution water activity, aw, which is the ratio of the vapour pressure of the solution and the saturation water vapour pressure under the same conditions and, in equilibrium, equivalent to relative humiditymore » (RH). This allows the freezing point and corresponding heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, Jhet, to be uniquely expressed by T and aw, a result we term the aw based immersion freezing model (ABIFM). This method is independent of the nature of the solute and accounts for several varying parameters, including cooling rate and IN surface area, while providing a holistic description of immersion freezing and allowing prediction of freezing temperatures, Jhet, frozen fractions, ice particle production rates and numbers. Our findings are based on experimental freezing data collected for various IN surface areas, A, and cooling rates, r, of droplets variously containing marine biogenic material, two soil humic acids, four mineral dusts, and one organic monolayer acting as IN. For all investigated IN types we demonstrate that droplet freezing temperatures increase as A increases. Similarly, droplet freezing temperatures increase as the cooling rate decreases. The log 10(J het) values for the various IN types derived exclusively by T and aw, provide a complete description of the heterogeneous ice nucleation kinetics. Thus, the ABIFM can be applied over the entire range of T, RH, total particulate surface area, and cloud activation timescales typical of atmospheric conditions. Finally, we demonstrate that ABIFM can

  2. A water activity based model of heterogeneous ice nucleation kinetics for freezing of water and aqueous solution droplets.

    PubMed

    Knopf, Daniel A; Alpert, Peter A

    2013-01-01

    Immersion freezing of water and aqueous solutions by particles acting as ice nuclei (IN) is a common process of heterogeneous ice nucleation which occurs in many environments, especially in the atmosphere where it results in the glaciation of clouds. Here we experimentally show, using a variety of IN types suspended in various aqueous solutions, that immersion freezing temperatures and kinetics can be described solely by temperature, T, and solution water activity, a(w), which is the ratio of the vapour pressure of the solution and the saturation water vapour pressure under the same conditions and, in equilibrium, equivalent to relative humidity (RH). This allows the freezing point and corresponding heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, J(het), to be uniquely expressed by T and a(w), a result we term the a(w) based immersion freezing model (ABIFM). This method is independent of the nature of the solute and accounts for several varying parameters, including cooling rate and IN surface area, while providing a holistic description of immersion freezing and allowing prediction of freezing temperatures, J(het), frozen fractions, ice particle production rates and numbers. Our findings are based on experimental freezing data collected for various IN surface areas, A, and cooling rates, r, of droplets variously containing marine biogenic material, two soil humic acids, four mineral dusts, and one organic monolayer acting as IN. For all investigated IN types we demonstrate that droplet freezing temperatures increase as A increases. Similarly, droplet freezing temperatures increase as the cooling rate decreases. The log10(J(het)) values for the various IN types derived exclusively by Tand a(w), provide a complete description of the heterogeneous ice nucleation kinetics. Thus, the ABIFM can be applied over the entire range of T, RH, total particulate surface area, and cloud activation timescales typical of atmospheric conditions. Lastly, we demonstrate that ABIFM can

  3. A water activity based model of heterogeneous ice nucleation kinetics for freezing of water and aqueous solution droplets

    DOE PAGES

    Knopf, Daniel A.; Alpert, Peter A.

    2013-04-24

    Immersion freezing of water and aqueous solutions by particles acting as ice nuclei (IN) is a common process of heterogeneous ice nucleation which occurs in many environments, especially in the atmosphere where it results in the glaciation of clouds. Here we experimentally show, using a variety of IN types suspended in various aqueous solutions, that immersion freezing temperatures and kinetics can be described solely by temperature, T, and solution water activity, aw, which is the ratio of the vapour pressure of the solution and the saturation water vapour pressure under the same conditions and, in equilibrium, equivalent to relative humiditymore » (RH). This allows the freezing point and corresponding heterogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient, Jhet, to be uniquely expressed by T and aw, a result we term the aw based immersion freezing model (ABIFM). This method is independent of the nature of the solute and accounts for several varying parameters, including cooling rate and IN surface area, while providing a holistic description of immersion freezing and allowing prediction of freezing temperatures, Jhet, frozen fractions, ice particle production rates and numbers. Our findings are based on experimental freezing data collected for various IN surface areas, A, and cooling rates, r, of droplets variously containing marine biogenic material, two soil humic acids, four mineral dusts, and one organic monolayer acting as IN. For all investigated IN types we demonstrate that droplet freezing temperatures increase as A increases. Similarly, droplet freezing temperatures increase as the cooling rate decreases. The log 10(J het) values for the various IN types derived exclusively by T and aw, provide a complete description of the heterogeneous ice nucleation kinetics. Thus, the ABIFM can be applied over the entire range of T, RH, total particulate surface area, and cloud activation timescales typical of atmospheric conditions. Finally, we demonstrate that ABIFM can

  4. Cyanobacteria abundance and its relationship to water quality in the Mid-Cross River floodplain, Nigeria.

    PubMed

    Okogwu, Okechukwu I; Ugwumba, Alex O

    2009-01-01

    The physicochemical variables and cyanobacteria of Mid-Cross River, Nigeria, were studied in six stations between March 2005 and August 2006 to determine the relationship between water quality and cyanobacteria abundance. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) showed that biological oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen, pH, water velocity, width and depth were important environmental factors that influenced cyanobacteria abundance. Trace metals, phosphate and nitrate increased significantly from values of previous studies indicating increased eutrophication of the river but were weakly correlated with cyanobacteria abundance and could be scarcely regarded as regulating factors. A higher cyanobacteria abundance was recorded during the wet season in most of the sampled stations. The dominant cyanobacteria included Microcystis aeruginosa, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, Oscillatoria limnetica and Anabaena spiroides. The toxins produced by these species could degrade water quality. The factors favouring cyanobacteria abundance were identified as increased pH, width and depth. Increase in cyanobacteria abundance was associated with reduction in dissolved oxygen and increase in BOD values.

  5. Space-based measurements of elemental abundances and their relation to solar abundances

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Coplan, M. A.; Ogilvie, K. W.; Bochsler, P.; Geiss, J.

    1990-01-01

    The Ion Composition Instrument (ICI) aboard the ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft was in the solar wind continuously from August 1978 to December 1982. The results made it possible to establish long-term average solar wind abundance values for helium, oxygen, neon, silicon, and iron. The Charge-Energy-Mass instrument aboard the CCE spacecraft of the AMPTE mission has measured the abundance of these elements in the magnetosheath and has also added carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, and sulfur to the list. There is strong evidence that these magnetosheath abundances are representative of the solar wind. Other sources of solar wind abundances are Solar Energetic Particle experiments and Apollo lunar foils. When comparing the abundances from all of these sources with photospheric abundances, it is clear that helium is depleted in the solar wind while silicon and iron are enhanced. Solar wind abundances for carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neon correlate well with the photospheric values. The incorporation of minor ions into the solar wind appears to depend upon both the ionization times for the elements and the Coulomb drag exerted by the outflowing proton flux.

  6. Global Temperature Measurement of Supercooled Water under Icing Conditions using Two-Color Luminescent Images and Multi-Band Filter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tanaka, Mio; Morita, Katsuaki; Kimura, Shigeo; Sakaue, Hirotaka

    2012-11-01

    Icing occurs by a collision of a supercooled-water droplet on a surface. It can be seen in any cold area. A great attention is paid in an aircraft icing. To understand the icing process on an aircraft, it is necessary to give the temperature information of the supercooled water. A conventional technique, such as a thermocouple, is not valid, because it becomes a collision surface that accumulates ice. We introduce a dual-luminescent imaging to capture a global temperature distribution of supercooled water under the icing conditions. It consists of two-color luminescent probes and a multi-band filter. One of the probes is sensitive to the temperature and the other is independent of the temperature. The latter is used to cancel the temperature-independent luminescence of a temperature-dependent image caused by an uneven illumination and a camera location. The multi-band filter only selects the luminescent peaks of the probes to enhance the temperature sensitivity of the imaging system. By applying the system, the time-resolved temperature information of a supercooled-water droplet is captured.

  7. High geothermal heat flux measured below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

    PubMed Central

    Fisher, Andrew T.; Mankoff, Kenneth D.; Tulaczyk, Slawek M.; Tyler, Scott W.; Foley, Neil

    2015-01-01

    The geothermal heat flux is a critical thermal boundary condition that influences the melting, flow, and mass balance of ice sheets, but measurements of this parameter are difficult to make in ice-covered regions. We report the first direct measurement of geothermal heat flux into the base of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), below Subglacial Lake Whillans, determined from the thermal gradient and the thermal conductivity of sediment under the lake. The heat flux at this site is 285 ± 80 mW/m2, significantly higher than the continental and regional averages estimated for this site using regional geophysical and glaciological models. Independent temperature measurements in the ice indicate an upward heat flux through the WAIS of 105 ± 13 mW/m2. The difference between these heat flux values could contribute to basal melting and/or be advected from Subglacial Lake Whillans by flowing water. The high geothermal heat flux may help to explain why ice streams and subglacial lakes are so abundant and dynamic in this region. PMID:26601210

  8. High geothermal heat flux measured below the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

    PubMed

    Fisher, Andrew T; Mankoff, Kenneth D; Tulaczyk, Slawek M; Tyler, Scott W; Foley, Neil

    2015-07-01

    The geothermal heat flux is a critical thermal boundary condition that influences the melting, flow, and mass balance of ice sheets, but measurements of this parameter are difficult to make in ice-covered regions. We report the first direct measurement of geothermal heat flux into the base of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), below Subglacial Lake Whillans, determined from the thermal gradient and the thermal conductivity of sediment under the lake. The heat flux at this site is 285 ± 80 mW/m(2), significantly higher than the continental and regional averages estimated for this site using regional geophysical and glaciological models. Independent temperature measurements in the ice indicate an upward heat flux through the WAIS of 105 ± 13 mW/m(2). The difference between these heat flux values could contribute to basal melting and/or be advected from Subglacial Lake Whillans by flowing water. The high geothermal heat flux may help to explain why ice streams and subglacial lakes are so abundant and dynamic in this region.

  9. Pre-cooling with ice slurry ingestion leads to similar run times to exhaustion in the heat as cold water immersion.

    PubMed

    Siegel, Rodney; Maté, Joseph; Watson, Greig; Nosaka, Kazunori; Laursen, Paul B

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of pre-exercise ice slurry ingestion and cold water immersion on submaximal running time in the heat. On three separate occasions, eight males ran to exhaustion at their first ventilatory threshold in the heat (34.0 ± 0.1 ° C, 52 ± 3% relative humidity) following one of three 30 min pre-exercise manoeuvres: (1) ice slurry ingestion; (2) cold water immersion; or (3) warm fluid ingestion (control). Running time was longer following cold water immersion (56.8 ± 5.6 min; P = 0.008) and ice slurry ingestion (52.7 ± 8.4 min; P = 0.005) compared with control (46.7 ± 7.2 min), but not significantly different between cold water immersion and ice slurry ingestion (P = 0.335). During exercise, rectal temperature was lower with cold water immersion from 15 and 20 min into exercise compared with control and ice slurry ingestion, respectively, and remained lower until 40 min (P = 0.001). At exhaustion rectal temperature was significantly higher following ice slurry ingestion (39.76 ± 0.36 ° C) compared with control (39.48 ± 0.36 ° C; P = 0.042) and tended to be higher than cold water immersion (39.48 ± 0.34 ° C; P = 0.065). As run times were similar between conditions, ice slurry ingestion may be a comparable form of pre-cooling to cold water immersion.

  10. Effect of water irrigation volume on Capsicum frutescens growth and plankton abundance in aquaponics system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andriani, Y.; Dhahiyat, Y.; Zahidah; Subhan, U.; Iskandar; Zidni, I.; Mawardiani, T.

    2018-03-01

    This study aimed to understand Capsicum frutescens growth and plankton abundance in aquaponics culture. A Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with six treatments in triplicates comprising of treatment A (positive control using organic liquid fertilizer), B (negative control without fertilizer), C (drip irrigation aquaponics with a water debit of 100 ml/day/plant), D (drip irrigation aquaponics with a water debit of 150 ml/day/plant), E (drip irrigation with a water debit of 200 ml/day/plant), and F (drip irrigation aquaponics with a water debit of 250 ml/day/plant) was applied. The water used in treatments C, D, E, and F contained comet fish feces as fertilizer. C. frutescens growth and plankton abundance were observed. Analysis was conducted using analysis of variance for plant productivity and descriptive analysis for plankton abundance and water quality. The results of this study showed that the highest plant growth was seen in plants receiving F treatment with 50 ml/day drip irrigation. However, no significant difference was found when compared to the positive control with organic artificial fertilizer. Eleven types of phytoplankton and six types of zooplankton were found, with Stanieria sp. as the most abundant phytoplankton and Brachionus sp. and Epistylis sp. as the most abundant zooplanktons.

  11. Water storage in marine sediment and implications for inferences of past global ice volume

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferrier, K.; Li, Q.; Pico, T.; Austermann, J.

    2017-12-01

    Changes in past sea level are of wide interest because they provide information on the sensitivity of ice sheets to climate change, and thus inform predictions of future sea-level change. Sea level changes are influenced by many processes, including the storage of water in sedimentary pore space. Here we use a recent extension of gravitationally self-consistent sea-level models to explore the effects of marine sedimentary water storage on the global seawater balance and inferences of past global ice volume. Our analysis suggests that sedimentary water storage can be a significant component of the global seawater budget over the 105-year timescales associated with glacial-interglacial cycles, and an even larger component over longer timescales. Estimates of global sediment fluxes to the oceans suggest that neglecting marine sedimentary water storage may produce meter-scale errors in estimates of peak global mean sea level equivalent (GMSL) during the Last Interglacial (LIG). These calculations show that marine sedimentary water storage can be a significant contributor to the overall effects of sediment redistribution on sea-level change, and that neglecting sedimentary water storage can lead to substantial errors in inferences of global ice volume at past interglacials. This highlights the importance of accounting for the influences of sediment fluxes and sedimentary water storage on sea-level change over glacial-interglacial timescales.

  12. Microwave properties of sea ice in the marginal ice zone

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Onstott, R. G.; Larson, R. W.

    1986-01-01

    Active microwave properties of summer sea ice were measured. Backscatter data were acquired at frequencies from 1 to 17 GHz, at angles from 0 to 70 deg from vertical, and with like and cross antenna polarizations. Results show that melt-water, snow thickness, snowpack morphology, snow surface roughness, ice surface roughness, and deformation characteristics are the fundamental scene parameters which govern the summer sea ice backscatter response. A thick, wet snow cover dominates the backscatter response and masks any ice sheet features below. However, snow and melt-water are not distributed uniformly and the stage of melt may also be quite variable. These nonuniformities related to ice type are not necessarily well understood and produce unique microwave signature characteristics.

  13. Oceanographic Influences on Ice Shelves and Drainage in the Amundsen Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Minzoni, R. T.; Anderson, J. B.; Majewski, W.; Yokoyama, Y.; Fernandez, R.; Jakobsson, M.

    2016-12-01

    Marine sediment cores collected during the IB OdenSouthern Ocean 2009-2010 cruise are used to reconstruct the Holocene history of the Cosgrove Ice Shelf, which today occupies Ferrero Bay, a large embayment of eastern Pine Island Bay. Detailed sedimentology, geochemistry, and micropaleontology of cores, in conjunction with subbottom profiles, reveal an unexpected history of recession. Presence of planktic foraminifera at the base of Kasten Core-15 suggests an episode of enhanced circulation beneath a large ice shelf that covered the Amundsen Sea during the Early Holocene, and relatively warm water incursion has been interpreted as a potential culprit for major recession and ice mass loss by 10.7 cal kyr BP from radiocarbon dating. Fine sediment deposition and low productivity throughout the Mid Holocene indicate long-lived stability of the Cosgrove Ice Shelf in Ferrero Bay, despite regional warming evident from ice core data and ice shelf loss in the Antarctic Peninsula. High productivity and diatom abundance signify opening of Ferrero Bay and recession of the Cosgrove Ice Shelf to its present day configuration by 2.0 cal kyr BP. This coincides with deglaciation of an island near Canisteo Peninsula according to published cosmogenic exposure ages. Presence of benthic foraminifera imply that warm deep water influx beneath the extended Cosgrove Ice Shelf was a mechanism for under-melting the ice shelf and destabilizing the grounding line. Major ice shelf recession may also entail continental ice mass loss from the eastern sector of the Amundsen Sea during the Late Holocene. Oceanographic forcing remains a key concern for the current stability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, especially along the tidewater margins of West Antarctica. Ongoing work on diatom and foraminiferal assemblages of the Late Holocene in Ferrero Bay and other fjord settings will improve our understanding of recent oceanographic changes and their potential influence on ice shelves and outlet glaciers

  14. Bringing abundance into environmental politics: Constructing a Zionist network of water abundance, immigration, and colonization.

    PubMed

    Alatout, Samer

    2009-06-01

    For more than five decades, resource scarcity has been the lead story in debates over environmental politics. More importantly, and whenever environmental politics implies conflict, resource scarcity is constructed as the culprit. Abundance of resources, if at all visited in the literature, holds less importance. Resource abundance is seen, at best, as the other side of scarcity--maybe the successful conclusion of multiple interventions that may turn scarcity into abundance. This paper reinstates abundance as a politico-environmental category in its own right. Rather than relegating abundance to a second-order environmental actor that matters only on occasion, this paper foregrounds it as a crucial element in modern environmental politics. On the substantive level, and using insights from science and technology studies, especially a slightly modified actor-network framework, I describe the emergence and consolidation of a Zionist network of abundance, immigration, and colonization in Palestine between 1918 and 1948. The essential argument here is that water abundance was constructed as fact, and became a political rallying point around which a techno-political network emerged that included a great number of elements. To name just a few, the following were enrolled in the service of such a network: geologists, geophysicists, Zionist settlement experts, Zionist organizations, political and technical categories of all sorts, Palestinians as the negated others, Palestinian revolts in search of political rights, the British Mandate authorities, the hydrological system of Palestine, and the absorptive capacity of Palestine, among others. The point was to successfully articulate these disparate elements into a network that seeks opening Palestine for Jewish immigration, redefining Palestinian geography and history through Judeo-Christian Biblical narratives, and, in the process, de-legitimizing political Palestinian presence in historic Palestine.

  15. Viscous organic aerosol particles in the upper troposphere: diffusivity-controlled water uptake and ice nucleation?

    DOE PAGES

    Lienhard, D. M.; Huisman, A. J.; Krieger, U. K.; ...

    2015-01-01

    New measurements of water diffusion in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) material produced by oxidation of α-pinene and in a number of organic/inorganic model mixtures (3-methylbutane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid (3-MBTCA), levoglucosan, levoglucosan/NH 4HSO 4, raffinose) are presented. These indicate that water diffusion coefficients are determined by several properties of the aerosol substance and cannot be inferred from the glass transition temperature or bouncing properties. Our results suggest that water diffusion in SOA particles is faster than often assumed and imposes no significant kinetic limitation on water uptake and release at temperatures above 220 K. The fast diffusion of water suggests that heterogeneous icemore » nucleation on a glassy core is very unlikely in these systems. At temperatures below 220 K, model simulations of SOA particles suggest that heterogeneous ice nucleation may occur in the immersion mode on glassy cores which remain embedded in a liquid shell when experiencing fast updraft velocities. The particles absorb significant quantities of water during these updrafts which plasticize their outer layers such that these layers equilibrate readily with the gas phase humidity before the homogeneous ice nucleation threshold is reached. Glass formation is thus unlikely to restrict homogeneous ice nucleation. Only under most extreme conditions near the very high tropical tropopause may the homogeneous ice nucleation rate coefficient be reduced as a consequence of slow condensed-phase water diffusion. Since the differences between the behavior limited or non limited by diffusion are small even at the very high tropical tropopause, condensed-phase water diffusivity is unlikely to have significant consequences on the direct climatic effects of SOA particles under tropospheric conditions.« less

  16. Investigating the Effects of Environmental Solutes on the Reaction Environment in Ice and at Ice Surfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malley, Philip Patrick Anthony

    The reaction environments present in water, ice, and at ice surfaces are physically distinct from one another and studies have shown that photolytic reactions can take place at different rates in the different media. Kinetics of reactions in frozen media are measured in snow and ice prepared from deionized water. This reduces experimental artifacts, but is not relevant to snow in the environment, which contains solutes. We have monitored the effect of nonchromophoric (will not absorb sunlight) organic matter on the photolytic fate of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) phenanthrene, pyrene, and anthracene in ice and at ice surfaces. Nonchromophoric organic matter reduced photolysis rates to below our detection limit in bulk ice, and reduced rates at ice surfaces to a lesser extent due to the PAHs partially partitioning to the organics present. In addition, we have monitored the effect of chromophoric (will absorb sunlight) dissolved organic matter (cDOM) on the fate of anthracene in water, ice, and ice surfaces. cDOM reduced rates in all three media. Suppression in liquid water was due to physical interactions between anthracene and the cDOM, rather than to competitive photon absorbance. More suppression was observed in ice cubes and ice granules than in liquid water due to a freeze concentrating effect. Sodium Chloride (NaCl) is another ubiquitous environmental solute that can influence reaction kinetics in water, ice, and at ice surfaces. Using Raman microscopy, we have mapped the surface of ice of frozen NaCl solutions at 0.02M and 0.6M, as well as the surface of frozen samples of Sargasso Sea Water. At temperatures above and below the eutectic temperature (-21.1°C). Above the eutectic, regions of ice and liquid water were observed in all samples. Liquid regions generally took the form of channels. Channel widths and fractional liquid surface coverage increased with NaCl concentration and temperature. Volume maps of the three samples at temperatures

  17. The Effect of Recent Decreases in Sea Ice Extent and Increases in SST on the Seasonal Availability of Arctic Cod (Boreogadus saida) to Seabirds in the Beaufort Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Divoky, G.; Druckenmiller, M. L.

    2016-02-01

    With major decreases in pan-Arctic summer sea ice extent steadily underway, the Beaufort Sea has been nearly ice-free in five of the last eight summers. This loss of a critical arctic marine habitat and the concurrent warming of the recently ice-free waters could potentially cause major changes in the biological oceanography of the Beaufort Sea and alter the distribution, abundance and condition of the region's upper trophic level predators that formerly relied on prey associated with sea ice or cold (<2°C) surface waters. Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida), the primary forage fish for seabirds in the Beaufort Sea, is part of the cryopelagic fauna associated with sea ice and is also found in adjacent ice-free waters. In the extreme western Beaufort Sea near Cooper Island, Arctic cod availability to breeding Black Guillemots (Cepphus grylle), a diving seabird, has declined since 2002. Guillemots are a good indicator of Arctic cod availability in surface waters and the upper water column as they feed at depths of 1-20m. Currently, when sea ice is absent from the nearshore and SST exceeds 4°C, guillemots are observed to seasonally shift from Arctic cod to nearshore demersal prey, with a resulting decrease in nestling survival and quality. Arctic cod is the primary prey for many of the seabirds utilizing the Beaufort Sea as a post-breeding staging area and migratory corridor in late summer and early fall. The loss of approximately 200-300 thousand sq km of summer sea ice habitat in recent years could be expected to affect the distribution, abundance, and movements of these species as there are few alternative fish resources in the region. We examine temporal and spatial variation in August sea ice extent and SST in the Beaufort Sea to determine the regions, periods and bird species that are potentially most affected as the Beaufort Sea transitions to becoming regularly ice-free in late summer.

  18. Salt partitioning between water and high-pressure ices. Implication for the dynamics and habitability of icy moons and water-rich planetary bodies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Journaux, Baptiste; Daniel, Isabelle; Petitgirard, Sylvain; Cardon, Hervé; Perrillat, Jean-Philippe; Caracas, Razvan; Mezouar, Mohamed

    2017-04-01

    Water-rich planetary bodies including large icy moons and ocean exoplanets may host a deep liquid water ocean underlying a high-pressure icy mantle. The latter is often considered as a limitation to the habitability of the uppermost ocean because it would limit the availability of nutrients resulting from the hydrothermal alteration of the silicate mantle located beneath the deep ice layer. To assess the effects of salts on the physical properties of high-pressure ices and therefore the possible chemical exchanges and habitability inside H2O-rich planetary bodies, we measured partitioning coefficients and densities in the H2O-RbI system up to 450 K and 4 GPa; RbI standing as an experimentally amenable analog of NaCl in the H2O-salt solutions. We measured the partitioning coefficient of RbI between the aqueous fluid and ices VI and VII, using in-situ Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). With in-situ X-ray diffraction, we measured the unit-cell parameters and the densities of the high-pressure ice phases in equilibrium with the aqueous fluid, at pressures and temperatures relevant to the interior of planetary bodies. We conclude that RbI is strongly incompatible towards ice VI with a partitioning coefficient Kd(VI-L) = 5.0 (± 2.1) ṡ10-3 and moderately incompatible towards ice VII, Kd(VII-L) = 0.12 (± 0.05). RbI significantly increases the unit-cell volume of ice VI and VII by ca. 1%. This implies that RbI-poor ice VI is buoyant compared to H2O ice VI while RbI-enriched ice VII is denser than H2O ice VII. These new experimental results might profoundly impact the internal dynamics of water-rich planetary bodies. For instance, an icy mantle at moderate conditions of pressure and temperature will consist of buoyant ice VI with low concentration of salt, and would likely induce an upwelling current of solutes towards the above liquid ocean. In contrast, a deep and/or thick icy mantle of ice VII will be enriched in salt and hence would form a stable chemical boundary

  19. Retrieval of ice crystals' mass from ice water content and particle distribution measurements: a numerical optimization approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coutris, Pierre; Leroy, Delphine; Fontaine, Emmanuel; Schwarzenboeck, Alfons; Strapp, J. Walter

    2016-04-01

    A new method to retrieve cloud water content from in-situ measured 2D particle images from optical array probes (OAP) is presented. With the overall objective to build a statistical model of crystals' mass as a function of their size, environmental temperature and crystal microphysical history, this study presents the methodology to retrieve the mass of crystals sorted by size from 2D images using a numerical optimization approach. The methodology is validated using two datasets of in-situ measurements gathered during two airborne field campaigns held in Darwin, Australia (2014), and Cayenne, France (2015), in the frame of the High Altitude Ice Crystals (HAIC) / High Ice Water Content (HIWC) projects. During these campaigns, a Falcon F-20 research aircraft equipped with state-of-the art microphysical instrumentation sampled numerous mesoscale convective systems (MCS) in order to study dynamical and microphysical properties and processes of high ice water content areas. Experimentally, an isokinetic evaporator probe, referred to as IKP-2, provides a reference measurement of the total water content (TWC) which equals ice water content, (IWC) when (supercooled) liquid water is absent. Two optical array probes, namely 2D-S and PIP, produce 2D images of individual crystals ranging from 50 μm to 12840 μm from which particle size distributions (PSD) are derived. Mathematically, the problem is formulated as an inverse problem in which the crystals' mass is assumed constant over a size class and is computed for each size class from IWC and PSD data: PSD.m = IW C This problem is solved using numerical optimization technique in which an objective function is minimized. The objective function is defined as follows: 2 J(m)=∥P SD.m - IW C ∥ + λ.R (m) where the regularization parameter λ and the regularization function R(m) are tuned based on data characteristics. The method is implemented in two steps. First, the method is developed on synthetic crystal populations in

  20. The Postshock Chemical Lifetimes of Outflow Tracers and a Possible New Mechanism to Produce Water Ice Mantles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bergin, Edwin A.; Melnick, Gary J.; Neufeld, David A.

    1998-01-01

    observable chemical variations between younger and older outflows. For gas-grain models we find that the abundance of water-ice on grain surfaces can be quite large and is comparable to that observed in molecular clouds. This offers a possible alternative method to create water mantles without resorting to grain surface chemistry: gas heating and chemical modification due to a C-type shock and subsequent depletion of the gas-phase species onto grain mantles.