Taste of polar ice

mongoose29

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Hello!

Anyone every tasted polar ice? Or melted it down for water? I'm interested to know if it tastes like snow does when melted or if it has a salty taste to it, like the sea. I imagine the latter, but just want to check!

Thanks in advance.
 

cornflake

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I'm not sure what you mean by polar ice? From a berg? From the arctic ocean? Antarctic sea?

I've had glacial water.
 

cornflake

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It'd probably not be that salty, but somewhat? I mean it's less salty than the ocean.
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that ice of any type isn't salty, since salt is used to prevent or erode ice.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

cornflake

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that ice of any type isn't salty, since salt is used to prevent or erode ice.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

That's because salted water has a lower freezing temp than fresh water. It will freeze. I believe the salt like, coalesces under ice in the ocean more than in it but I don't think it's not at all salty -- but I'm not sure.
 

Helix

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There's a detailed explanation of sea ice here.

But the relevant bit is this:

[h=3]Can you drink melted sea ice?[/h] New ice is usually very salty because it contains concentrated droplets called brine that are trapped in pockets between the ice crystals, and so it would not make good drinking water. As ice ages, the brine eventually drains through the ice, and by the time it becomes multiyear ice, nearly all of the brine is gone. Most multiyear ice is fresh enough that someone could drink its melted water. In fact, multiyear ice often supplies the fresh water needed for polar expeditions.
 

mongoose29

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Thanks to all! Much appreciated. :)
 

E. Steve

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I was on a long rafting trip down a river in southeast Alaska. Our last few days we were down where the glaciers were melting out, and the guides went out to a floating berg and chipped off a container full of ice and brought it back to camp. That night they told us, "Tonight the ice in your drinks will be older than your aged Scotch." Not polar ice, but I thought it was a funny line that I'm sure they rehearsed and used regularly.