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Abstract Compared with freshwater ice, whose physical properties are well known, sea ice is a relatively complex substance whose transition to a completely solid mixture of pure ice and solid salts is completed only at extremely low temperatures rarely encountered in nature. The physical properties of sea ice are thus strongly dependent on salinity, temperature and time. Many of these properties are still not fully understood or accurately known, particularly those important for the understanding of a natural ice cover. The specific heat for example is an important term in the calculation of the heat energy content of a cover. However, Malmgren (1927), whose calculated values of the specific heat of sea ice are in general use, neglected the direct contribution of the brine present in inclusions. Re-examination of the question of specific and latent heats of sea ice has led to distinguishing between the freezing and melting points and enabled significant observations in this range. Similarly, because the thermal conductivity is a necessary parameter in the description of the thermal behaviour of ice. the sea-ice model suggested by Anderson (1958) has been modified and extended in the present work to the case of saline ice containing air bubbles. This enabled the completion of calculations of density and conductivity. In order to illustrate the theoretically calculated values. measurements were made on sea-ice samples to determine the specific heat, density and thermal conductivity.