Cool Harvest: Frost on sea ice may boost atmosphere’s bromine

Frost flowers, the delicate crystals that sometimes grow atop fresh sea ice, can be a substantial source of ozone-destroying bromine in the lower atmosphere near the poles, researchers suggest.

CHILLY GARDEN. Frost flowers, such as these 2-centimeter-tall crystals on a patch of fresh ice in the Arctic Ocean, may be a major source of atmospheric bromine.