TY - JOUR
T1 - Anomalous Convective Flows Carve Pinnacles and Scallops in Melting Ice
AU - Weady, Scott
AU - Tong, Joshua
AU - Zidovska, Alexandra
AU - Ristroph, Leif
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for support from a NSF graduate fellowship No. DMS-1839302 to S. W., a NYU WiPhy fellowship to J. T., and NSF Grants No. PHY-1554880 to A. Z. and No. CBET-1805506 and No. DMS-1646339 to L. R.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Physical Society
PY - 2022/1/28
Y1 - 2022/1/28
N2 - We report on the shape dynamics of ice suspended in cold fresh water and subject to the natural convective flows generated during melting. Experiments reveal shape motifs for increasing far-field temperature: Sharp pinnacles directed downward at low temperatures, scalloped waves for intermediate temperatures between Formula Presented and Formula Presented, and upward pointing pinnacles at higher temperatures. Phase-field simulations reproduce these morphologies, which are closely linked to the anomalous density-temperature profile of liquid water. Boundary layer flows yield pinnacles that sharpen with accelerating growth of tip curvature while scallops emerge from a Kelvin-Helmholtz-like instability caused by counterflowing currents that roll up to form vortex arrays. By linking the molecular-scale effects underlying water’s density anomaly to the macroscale flows that imprint the surface, these results show that the morphology of melted ice is a sensitive indicator of ambient temperature.
AB - We report on the shape dynamics of ice suspended in cold fresh water and subject to the natural convective flows generated during melting. Experiments reveal shape motifs for increasing far-field temperature: Sharp pinnacles directed downward at low temperatures, scalloped waves for intermediate temperatures between Formula Presented and Formula Presented, and upward pointing pinnacles at higher temperatures. Phase-field simulations reproduce these morphologies, which are closely linked to the anomalous density-temperature profile of liquid water. Boundary layer flows yield pinnacles that sharpen with accelerating growth of tip curvature while scallops emerge from a Kelvin-Helmholtz-like instability caused by counterflowing currents that roll up to form vortex arrays. By linking the molecular-scale effects underlying water’s density anomaly to the macroscale flows that imprint the surface, these results show that the morphology of melted ice is a sensitive indicator of ambient temperature.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.044502
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.044502
M3 - Article
C2 - 35148162
AN - SCOPUS:85124499485
VL - 128
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 4
M1 - 044502
ER -