Brine Rejection & Antarctic Bottom Water (2D)

Polar Conditions

Air temperature -20°C

Ocean turbulence / mixing 40%

Time speed 1.0x

Live Readouts

Sea ice thickness0.30 m

Brine salt flux0.0

Convective mixing depth0 m

Bottom-water salinity anomaly+0.000 psu

How it works

This 2D companion computes the same ice-growth physics as the 3D scene, but instead of animating loose particles it solves an actual 1D water column: a depth-resolved salinity field S(z,t) that brine is injected into at the surface and that mixes downward by real convective overturning — the mechanism that forms Antarctic Bottom Water for real.

Ice growth (Stefan's law):    dh/dt = k(T_f − T_air) / h
Salt flux from rejection:     F_salt = (S_sw − S_ice) · dh/dt
Surface injection:            ∂S/∂t|₂₀  += F_salt / DZ    (diluted by turbulence)
Vertical eddy diffusion:      ∂S/∂t = K_z · ∂²S/∂z²
Convective adjustment:        merge any run where S(z) > S(z+Δz) into one
                               well-mixed block (pool-adjacent-violators),
                               producing the stable, salt-conserving profile

Air temperature — colder air steepens T_f − T_air in Stefan's law, accelerating ice growth and the brine flux fed into the surface layer.
Coastal polynya — open water loses heat (and rejects brine) about 7× faster than insulated pack ice, matching the real role of Weddell/Ross Sea polynyas as the dominant AABW source.
Ocean turbulence — dilutes the brine over a thicker surface mixed layer before it can trigger convection, exactly like real mixing dispersing a plume instead of letting it fall coherently.
Convective adjustment — whenever a layer becomes denser (saltier) than the water beneath it, that whole unstable run is merged into one well-mixed block (a pool-adjacent-violators pass), which is precisely how real open-ocean deep convection erases a density inversion. Watch the salinity-vs-depth curve below straighten as bottom water forms.

Consolidated pack ice

Rejected brine (sinking) High-salinity column water

Brine Rejection & Antarctic Bottom Water Formation (2D)