Brinicle or finger of death, the cyclone of the sea

If you ever have the opportunity to travel to a place as cold as the Antarctic continent, and if you dare to get into the waters, be very careful. You are likely to come across sea cyclones, which are known by the name of brinicle, or arm of death.

It is a spectacular display of nature, perhaps the most surprising of all those that occur in the oceans. Do you want to know how it is formed?

On planet Earth, not everything has been discovered yet, and in fact, it was not until 1960 that it was known that the brinicle really existed, and in 2011 it was filmed for the first time in time-lapse. But what is it? Well, this curious phenomenon is actually an ice stalactite that forms in the waters of Antarctica due to the difference in temperature both on the surface (which is around -20ºC) and in the depths (from - 2 ° C). Thus the flow of saline water, whose temperature is several degrees below zero, comes into contact with the ocean water, which is warmer, and thus the ice stalactite is formed.

At first it is very reminiscent of a hollow tube of ice that grows downward. Inside it, there is a water that is extremely cold and that it has a high concentration of salt, which accumulates in the channels. In this phase it is a fragile formation, since the walls are thin and it needs to "feed" on the salt to continue growing. However, for this to happen, the conditions must be as follows:

• The water around the tube should be slightly less saline than the one that is inside it.
• Water it can't be too deep.
• The water in the area has to be maintained calm.

If the conditions are right, you can get to the bottom and go a long way downhill. Meanwhile, it will leave a web of ice that will do what it does best: freeze everything in its path, be it stars or sea urchins, fish, crabs… whatever. Otherwise, simply will fade.

In addition, the "arm" is so cold and so dense that as it advances it does not lose stability, so it maintains its shape and even increases in size when entering the sea, as it has an insulating layer formed by the jet of cold saline water flowing down. This layer prevents it from heating up, so it will continue to descend and create more ice. This is because salt causes the freezing point to drop… more. Thus, the brinicle becomes stronger, more surprising if possible.

And it is that the salt, while the brinicle continues to freeze, comes out of said formation, causing the surrounding water to become more salty. It could be said, and we would not be mistaken, that this phenomenon "feeds" on salt, so over and over again the cycle would resume ... until there were significant changes in the temperature or depth of the ocean.

The size of the brinicle is limited. It will depend on the water that surrounds it, the depth of the water, as well as the growth of the ice that one or the other has. In any case, it is impressive.

This formation was filmed for the first time in 2011, on Razorback Island, Antarctica, by Kathryn Jeffs and cameras Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson for the BBC. The sea temperature was around -2ºC, but they dared to dive with the right clothes, and their bravery was undoubtedly rewarded by power. Record one of the most incredible natural phenomena seen on Earth, specifically in the frozen sea of ​​a place as impressive as Antarctica.

Thus, beneath the ice-covered surface where polar bears, sea lions, penguins and other animals go about their daily routine in search of something to eat, jets of icy water come into contact with a sea that, if well it's very cold, it is hot enough for so-called sea cyclones to form, better known by the name of brinicle or finger of death.

We still have much to learn from nature, and it is likely that it still has more than one surprise in store for us. It is not known when the human being will see a show like this again, what is known is that when he does, will marvel again.

What do you think? Interesting, right? The brinicle advances rapidly, dragging everything it finds with it. So if you ever get a chance to see one up close, enjoy it… but from a distance, just in case.