Abstract
The scattering and absorption of sunlight falling on the sea-ice cover, which every winter doubles the effective area of the Antarctic continent, exerts a strong influence over the weather of the Southern Hemisphere and over the growth of microbial communities in the water column and within the ice itself1. It is thus important that we develop an understanding of the interaction of light with sea ice, and here we report in situ measurements of the diffusive transport of light in the sea ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Our novel experimental method permits the resolution of the depth dependence of the scattering and allows identification of an isotropic top layer, an anisotropic bulk layer and a strongly absorbing algal layer. The anisotropic scattering exerts a strong influence on the radiation field in and under the ice.
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Buckley, R., Trodahl, H. Scattering and absorption of visible light by sea ice. Nature 326, 867–869 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/326867a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/326867a0
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