What is a Brinicle? The frozens fingers of death
If you ever have the opportunity to travel to a place as cold as the Antarctic continent, and if you dare to get into the water, be very careful. It is probable that you will encounter the cyclones of the sea, which are known by the name of Brinicle, or finger of death.
Grow downward in the polar seas when a stream of impurities, such as salt water and extremely cold, freezes and grows from the base of the ice floating in the sea, towards the bottom. Scientists learned of the existence of these marine stalactites in the 1960s, but failed to record live until 2011 in Antarctica.
The formation of ice from salt water produces spontaneous changes in the near unfrozen water, forming an ice tube that comes from the bottom of a layer of sea ice.
Other Curious Data
Finally, it is interesting to know that the continent is divided into two regions, Eastern and Western Antarctica. The former represents two-thirds of the total, and is approximately the size of Australia. In addition, the ice in this part is at least 2 kilometers thick.
On the other hand, the Western zone is a series of icy islands that extend towards the southern end of South America, an extension of the Andes Mountains prominent on the warmest continent. The two regions are separated by the Transantarctic Mountains, which extend across the continent.
On the other hand, the Antarctic ice is not a smooth sheet, but an agglomeration that changes continuously. The numerous glaciers rise across the continent and break the ice. In addition, areas of cracks hundreds of meters deep cover the area, hidden only by a thin layer of snow. To make matters worse, icebergs burst along the coast, causing numerous ice sheets to fall to the sea violently.
Despite the thick ice, Antarctica is classified as a desert because there is hardly any humidity. The interior regions of the continent receive an average of 50 millimeters of rainfall, mostly in the form of snow, per year. It could be said that it rains more in the Sahara desert. the coastal regions receive more moisture, but still only reaches 200 mm annually. Unlike most desert regions, this moisture does not submerge in the soil, but the snow is accumulating on top of itself.