Abstract Multiphase models used to study the growth and properties of saline ices (e.g., sea ice, planetary ice shells) are computationally complex and must invoke a selected permeability‐porosity function to accurately capture the dynamic interplay of solidification and flow in an evolving porous media. Although contemporary models have successfully employed several different permeability‐porosity relationships, how the choice of such functions influences the dynamics and properties of the resulting ice remains largely unconstrained. In this study, we use the binary alloy solidification model SOFTBALL to explore how different permeability‐porosity relationships affect ice thickness, bulk salinity, and porosity. We model both sea ice on Earth and a Europan ice shell to investigate the effects of chemistry and scale on ice properties. We find that valid implementations of different permeability‐porosity functions can affect ice thickness estimates by up to 13.5% and ice salinity estimates by up to 30%. For large ice shells, such as that purported for Europa, this could affect ice shell thickness estimates by several kilometers. Furthermore, given the relationship between permeability and thermochemical fluxes as well as the links between ice chemistry, geophysical processes, and ice‐ocean world habitability, these results have broad and important implications for future models of both sea ice and planetary ice shell growth and evolution. Pairing refined predictive models such as these with improved empirical measurements of planetary analog ices will be critical to the interpretation of remote sensing data in the era of historic outer planets missions like Europa Clipper, JUICE, and Dragonfly.
Tomlinson et al. (Fri,) studied this question.