nwdiver wrote:patagoniax wrote:nwdiver wrote: In Canada we make vodka from fossil ice. Pre Industrial pollution pure.
http://www.iceberg.ca/Water/World-s-Purest-Water.aspx
Just because it is "pre industrial" doesn't mean it's free of contaminants. Glacial ice can be pretty gritty and usually has some degree of our old friend, arsenic. So they get a "fail" for claiming any sort of real purity.
It's iceberg sea ice which is pure.
There is no such thing as "pure sea ice" ! That is simply marketing talk, and with all due respect, I think you have fallen for it.
And anyway we need to understand the difference between "sea ice" formations and "icebergs." Sea-ice is small stuff, not icebergs really, but ice-floes. The serious icebergs are mostly calved from ice shelves are contain mostly fresh water. Even though sea-ice expels a lot of the salts during formation of crystals some brine gets trapped in the matrix and so the ice floes tend to be a little salty though not as much as the seawater. So if your liberal-arts marketing people are talking about "sea ice icebergs" and "pure water" then they have some explaining to do. Dilbert was right about the marketing people.
Sea ice is a contamination (or biogeochemical, if you prefer) vector mechanism whether it's pre- or post-industrial in its composition. But perhaps more importantly, the contaminants entrained in just about any ice may have potential for characterising the prevailing pollutants of historical and prehistoric periods. And sea ice often contains not only chemical but biological contaminants, both of which are useful in such characterisations. The microbial component of sea ice is particularly interesting and has been studied recently down here in the Southern Ocean. Likewise, whether in pre- or post-industrial sea ice, you will typically (even in Canadian waters) find inorganic macronutrients in that ice, along with spores, pollens, and other components. I had previously mentioned the airborne tephra component of ice, which affects both sea and terrestrially formed variants of ice.
Edit: to avoid the appearance of chamullo, read any of the papers and books on the subject of formation and composition of sea-ice to understand the falsity of the marketing claim to sea-ice being somehow "pure" and that there are "sea-ice icebergs." Here is the abstract from one, which covers part of the marine component down here in the Weddell Sea. The snow that accumulates over the marine layer of course carries its own airborne contaminants, both chemical and biological, and this is generally true of both pre- and post-industrial ice formation. You may wish to send some of this off to your marketing people. Next time you are in Punta Arenas, stop by the INACH library in the basement of the building. Say hello to my stuffed penguin friend in the foyer. Check out the book, "Sea-ice and iceberg sedimentation in the ocean: recent and past" by Aleksandr Petrovich Lisitsyn.
Abstract
Changes in physico-chemical conditions, phytoplankton biomass, biochemical composition and primary productivity were investigated during autumnal sea-ice formation in the southeastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. During sea-ice growth, brine salinities gradually increased with decreasing temperatures. Nutrient concentrations in the brine of sea ice older than 2 weeks were lower than calculated from initial surface seawater values. The concomittant accumulation of phytoplankton biomass could not be explained solely by physical enrichment. We suggest that several microalgal species retained the capacity to assimilate nutrients and continued to grow in newly formed sea ice. However, nutrient depletions were moderate, and biochemical analyses did not indicate nutrient stress of algal metabolism. Relative abundance of smaller diatom species increased during ice growth, suggesting that pore space available for colonization in conjunction with physiological acclimation capacity were major factors determining successional patterns in recently formed sea ice. Even though ice algal assemblages apparently sustained the capacity to acclimate to reduced irradiances brought about by ice growth and increasing snow cover, maximum primary production was considerably lower than values usually reported from spring and summer ice communities. Therefore, autumnal primary production in newly formed sea ice may not add greatly to total annual production, but may provide an important food source for ice-associated grazers during the winter period, when phytoplankton biomass in the water column is extremely low. (Ref "Variation in phytoplankton standing stock, chemical composition and physiology during sea-ice formation in the southeastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica."
Had to edit that a couple of times.
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