The use of nuclear magnetic resonance to measure water content (a component of brine volume) and the diffusivity of liquid water in sea ice

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is able to discriminate signals arising from nuclei hosted by molecules in the solid state, from those in a liquid state and was therefore used to examine the state of the brine water component of sea ice. Water content (a component of brine volume) and the diffusivity of liquid water were both measured in a range of samples in the hope to measure brine water volume fractions and brine water mobility. Ice cores were sampled and core profiles were collected with three measurements made at each depth from the surface, in 200 mm steps over the 2.2 m of sea ice layer. Salinity and termperature measurements on the same cores permitted brine water fractions to be calculated and compared with those obtained by NMR. Measurements of brine water diffusivity and electrical conductivity were collected also to get an estimate of salinity.