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Timelapse video captures ‘icicle of death’ reaching Antarctica’s sea floor

The slow progression of a 'brinicle,' one of nature's most unusual phenomena, has been filmed for the first time in a fascinating new video.

The crew from BBC's 'Frozen Planet' used time-lapse photography to capture what they've dubbed the "icicle of death," documenting its frosty reach as it blankets life on the sea floor under a sheet of ice.

The phenomenon is caused when ice from above leaves behind a very salty brine, which gradually sinks as it is more dense that the sea water it encounters.

"As it descends, the sea water around it freezes instantly and forms a sheet of ice - a brinicle - that grows downwards toward the sea floor," explains the video's narrator. "Winter is reaching down from the cold world above."

Once the brinicle has reached the sea floor, a web of ice freezes everything it touches, encasing sea urchins and starfish in a frosty tomb. The footage was taken near Antarctica's Ross Archipelago, under the sheets of ice at Little Razorback Island.

"When we were exploring around that island we came across an area where there had been three or four [brinicles] previously and there was one actually happening," said Miller in the BBC story.

"It was a bit of a race against time because no-one really knew how fast they formed. The one we'd seen a week before was getting longer in front of our eyes... the whole thing only took five, six hours."

(Gizmodo photo)