| Sea ice, and natural ice in general, acts like a giant mirror on the surface of the Earth. The ice reflects a fraction of light back into space, a property known as the albedo of the ice. Not all of the light, however, is reflected. Some penetrates the surface, and is refracted within the crystal structure, and some makes it all the way through to the water column (a property of many minerals, known as birefringence). The high concentration of brine inclusions (and some sediment, too) in sea ice give its an opaque, vitreous appearance, giving sea ice a much higher albedo than freshwater ice.The high albedo of sea ice has a huge effect on the global climate, reflecting much of the solar radiation that bombards the Earth back into space. |
(Courtesy of Hajo Eicken)
