Melting characteristics of unrestrained liquid ice in a rectangular vessel with heated top wall were investigated experimentally. The liquid ice, a mixture of ice particles and ethylene-glycol aqueous solution, was adopted as a testing material. During the melting process the liquid ice was drawn by buoyancy to the heated top wall of the rectangular vessel where close-contact melting occured. The melting behavior and melting rate of the liquid ice as well as local/mean heat-transfer coefficient at the heated top wall were observed and measured under a variety of conditions of heat flux and various initial concentration of the aqueous binary solution. It was found that the heat transfer of the heated top wall is remarkably promoted by the close-contact melting, and that the dendritic frozen layer at the lower interface of the liquid ice is formed. Photographic evidence demonstrated that plumes containing solute-rich liquid issued from isolated chimneys within the liquid ice layer where segregation of interstitial channel took place.