BBC cameramen Hugh Miller and Doug Anderson, filming for the BBC One series Frozen Planet, have captured an unusual phenomenon that plays out under the Antartic sea. Dubbed “Brinicle” or “icicle of death,” salt water being excluded from the sea ice sinks, causing the water around it to freeze in an icy sheath. The icicle took only about 5 hours to reach the sea bed, when a web of ice formed that froze everything it touched, including sea urchins and starfish. It’s an amazing timelapse video filmed under the ice at Little Razorback Island, near Antarctica’s Ross Archipelago.
Here’s a picture of their setup to film this phenomenon:
