Salts on Sea Ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Abstract

EXTENSIVE deposits of salts were found on the surface of sea ice in McMurdo Sound near the coast of Hut Point Peninsula at 77° 50′ S. and 166° 30′ E. in late November 1962, when the air temperature was about −4° C. The salts form long wind-rows 30 ft. or so wide and rest on sea ice 4–10 ft. thick, which breaks out in late summer and refreezes in the following winter. Snow up to 6 in. thick covers part of the sea ice and where partly sublimed is discoloured by salts, and the salts on the ice appear to have been deposited with snow.