View source for Brine pockets and -channels

When sea ice forms, small spaces between the ice crystals remain and are filled with a salty solution called brine. Thus, sea ice consists of a mixture of ice crystals and brine channels, which form a three-dimensional network of tubes with diameters of a few micrometers to several cm. <ref>Arctic Sea Ice: Channels of Life. Rolf Gradinger. 2002. Online 2/2022. https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02arctic/background/sea_ice/sea_ice.html</ref>

Brine pockets weaken the ice.<ref>Minsk, D. 1977. Ice accumulation on ocean structures. CRREL Report 77-17. Hanover, NH: US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory</ref> Salinity of the sea water is commonly cited as the reason for brine pockets occurring in sea spray ice. However, all ice, fresh or salty, formed from droplets striking surfaces forms pockets of unfrozen water, and this is called spongy ice <ref>Makkonen, L. 1987. Salinity and growth rate of ice formed by sea spray. Cold Regions Science and Technology 14: 163–171.</ref> <ref>Blackmore, R. Z., and E. P. Lozowski. 2003. Spongy Icing Modelling: Progress and Prospects. In Proceedings of The Thirteenth (2003) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference, 25–30 May, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, p. 429– 434.</ref> Ice sponginess, the incorporation of unfrozen fresh water, brine, or air in the ice, has been observed in hail, in aircraft airfoil ice, and in ship superstructure ice. It has also been observed in floating sea ice that does not form from the accumulation of airborne drops. Lozowski et al. (2000) indicate that up to 50% of an ice mass may consist of unfrozen liquid inclusions. <ref>Lozowski E. P., K. Szilder, and L. Makkonen. 2000. Computer simulation of marine ice accretion. Philosophical Trans of the Royal Society: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 358: 2811–2845.</ref> <ref>Charles C. Ryerson. April 2013. Icing Management for Coast Guard Assets. Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. ERDC/ C R R E L TR-13-7.</ref>

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