Quote:
Originally Posted by motov
Salty water freezes below 0°C (32°F): this is why salt is used to melt the snow or ice on a road pavement. The saltier the brine, the lower its freezing point. This is also why salt traditionally was added to the water–ice mixture used to make ice cream.
Ocean water with a typical salinity of 35 parts per thousand freezes only at −1.8°C (28.9°F). So if there were no halocline in the polar oceans, then the cooled top ocean layer, being denser, would sink into the deep ocean, in the same way as thunderstorm clouds rise in the atmosphere, and the entire ocean column would have to cool to −1.8°C before its surface could freeze.
|
Sea water won't freeze at -1.8 though because it isn't still water. It needs to be very very cold for a prolonged time for the sea surface to freeze.