Brinicle "Finger of Death" - Video of the Week

Here is a peek at Discovery's Frozen Planet series coming later this month featuring brinicles - a natural phenomena that occurs when brine sinks to the sea floor freezing everything in its path. Caught for the first time on video in Antartica for this series, this amazing time-lapse shows starfish and sea urchins running for the hills. If you have just a few seconds, skip to about 1:20 on the video.

This magnificent yet terrifying phenomenon is caused by brine, or naturally occurring salt water, which tends to be denser than the surrounding seawater and has a lower freezing point. When super cold brine trickles down, the warmer seawater surrounds the cyclone with a brittle layer of ice.

Read more: Nature

 

so cool lol but wild pacific is still my all time favorite series

 

Mother nature is awesome. Thanks for the post, looks cool. No pun intended.

 

Awesome video!

 

That's some pretty remarkable cinematography. I bet just watching that ice finger come down would send chills down your back.

 

wow as i diver i marvel at the visibility

 

Thats very creepy looking. To cool.

 

Clearer than the equator for sure. I had a buddy that went to Antarctica to get some dry suit diving in and get an ROV camera torpedo in the water. He said water was too clear to guess the visibility. The horizon?

 

Awesome video, tho I amost didn't watch it the second I heard that dude's voice...

 

nice work matt.

I suppose the lack of algae would be the reason since its mostly dark part of the year that these would form. The only place i've had near infinite visibility is in caverns under the yucatan where there is no current or real light.

I have always wanted to dive alaska and antartica