The Impact of Permeability‐Porosity Relationships on the Modeled Growth Dynamics and Properties of Saline Ices.
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| Title: | The Impact of Permeability‐Porosity Relationships on the Modeled Growth Dynamics and Properties of Saline Ices. |
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| Authors: | Tomlinson, Tara C.1 (AUTHOR) tara.c.tomlinson.th@dartmouth.edu, Buffo, Jacob J.1 (AUTHOR), Meyer, Colin R.1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets. Mar2026, Vol. 131 Issue 3, p1-18. 18p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Salinity, Porosity, Ice formation & growth, Habitable planets, Cryosphere, Ice mechanics |
| Abstract: | Multiphase models used to study the growth and properties of saline ices (e.g., sea ice, planetary ice shells) are computationally complex and must invoke a selected permeability‐porosity function to accurately capture the dynamic interplay of solidification and flow in an evolving porous media. Although contemporary models have successfully employed several different permeability‐porosity relationships, how the choice of such functions influences the dynamics and properties of the resulting ice remains largely unconstrained. In this study, we use the binary alloy solidification model SOFTBALL to explore how different permeability‐porosity relationships affect ice thickness, bulk salinity, and porosity. We model both sea ice on Earth and a Europan ice shell to investigate the effects of chemistry and scale on ice properties. We find that valid implementations of different permeability‐porosity functions can affect ice thickness estimates by up to 13.5% and ice salinity estimates by up to 30%. For large ice shells, such as that purported for Europa, this could affect ice shell thickness estimates by several kilometers. Furthermore, given the relationship between permeability and thermochemical fluxes as well as the links between ice chemistry, geophysical processes, and ice‐ocean world habitability, these results have broad and important implications for future models of both sea ice and planetary ice shell growth and evolution. Pairing refined predictive models such as these with improved empirical measurements of planetary analog ices will be critical to the interpretation of remote sensing data in the era of historic outer planets missions like Europa Clipper, JUICE, and Dragonfly. Plain Language Summary: This study investigates how ice properties‐such as thickness, salinity, and porosity‐are influenced by different assumptions about permeability and fluid flow during the growth of saline ice. Using numerical models relevant to both terrestrial sea ice and the ice shell of Europa, we find that the choice of permeability‐porosity function used in a model can alter results for ice thickness by up to 13.5%, salinity by 30%, and porosity by up to 25%. These differences are significant for interpreting ice structure, strength, and habitability potential. Accurate modeling of saline ice formation requires better constraints on porosity‐permeability relationships, particularly for application to icy ocean worlds ahead of upcoming missions like Europa Clipper, JUICE, and Dragonfly. Key Points: Different porosity‐permeability relationships in ice growth models affect ice thickness, bulk salinity, and porosity by tens of percentResults are consistent across scales, from meter‐scale sea ice simulations to kilometer‐scale shells of icy moons like EuropaThese results have important implications for ocean world habitability and interpreting spacecraft data from missions like Europa Clipper [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | GreenFILE |
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