I was also subjecting the diatoms to the conditions they may find when the seawater freezes during the winter. Diatoms are able to live inside the brine channels which form a continuous network through sea ice. In the brine channels, diatoms will be subjected to high salinity and low temperatures. There will also be an increase in the halide ion concentrations. I found that subjecting the diatom communities at Rothera to ice-like conditions caused an increase in halocarbon emissions.
I made a sea ice chamber, as there is no sea ice at Rothera during the summer months. Pictures of the chamber are below. Unfortunately I didn’t have to time to carry out experiments with diatoms in the chamber, though I did make sea ice and show the network of brine channels where the diatoms may live. Work continues with the chamber back in the UK.
The sea ice chamber
Making a core in the ice
A thin section of ice from the core
