As ice crystals grow in the water during the autumn season, small ice platelets begin to accumulate at the ocean surface, inter-link, and form a porous structure of ice crystals filled with liquid, which is referred to as brine. The flourishing life within the briny habitat of sea ice. The ice specific ecosystem includes bacteria, viruses, unicellular algae, diatom chains, worms and crustaceans. Click on the image to see a magnified view of the brine channels containing these organisms. The flourishing life within the briny habitat of sea ice is intricately linked to physical processes.
Temperature controls every physical and chemical aspect of ice, including the availability of light.
The most notable effect of decreasing temperature, as winter progresses and the ice solidifies, is the reduction of pore space within the ice, and the concurrent increase in the salinity of the brine. Since the organisms have the same temperature as the ice, their survival depends on their ability to prevent the growth of ice crystals in their bodies. Many organisms accumulate large deposits of organic molecules, and fatlike material as a strategy to survive the harsh unproductive winter. Studying the capability of organisms to survive such extreme environments is an active research field of astrobiology , which is a branch of biology concerned with the effects of extraterrestrial environments on living organisms. Wintertime sea ice is used as an analogue for possible extraterrestrial habitats on the frozen surfaces of such solar bodies such as Europa, Ganymede, Mars and Titan.