Brine Rejection & Antarctic Bottom Water Formation

As sea ice forms in the polar oceans it expels almost all of its salt into the water below, creating a cascade of dense, cold brine that sinks toward the seafloor. This simulator renders that process in 3D: a growing ice sheet (or an open coastal polynya, where the lack of insulating ice lets heat loss and ice growth run far faster) rejects salt at a rate set by the real Stefan-law growth physics, and the resulting brine plumes sink and spread along the bottom exactly as Antarctic Bottom Water does in the Weddell and Ross Seas, ventilating the deep ocean on a global scale. Adjust air temperature, open a polynya, and tune ocean turbulence to see how each control changes the ice growth rate, the salt flux, and the rate of dense bottom-water formation in real time.