- Who
- Antartic Bottom Water
- What
- -2.6 degree(s) Celsius
- Where
- Antarctica ()
- When
The coldest temperature ever recorded for liquid seawater was observed in May 2010 by a team of scientists from Norway. Under an Antarctic glacier, a temperature of −2.6°C (27.3°F) was recorded. Ultra-cold water like this forms when sea ice grows. The water used to form the ice cannot hold salt in its matrix (it melts out like sprinkling salt on snow), and thus increasingly salty water sinks below the forming ice. As it collects at the bottom of hollows in the seabed, the salty water becomes colder and colder as the salt prevents it from turning it to ice. Antarctica is surrounded by a deep layer of this ultra-cold water, which is known as the Antarctic Bottom Water.
