Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea
Abstract The rapidly changing Arctic sea ice cover affects surface wave growth across all scales. Here, in situ measurements of waves, observed from freely-drifting buoys during the 2014 open water season, are interpreted using open water distances determined from satellite ice products and wind for...
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University of California Press
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crunicaliforniap:10.12952/journal.elementa.000097 2024-05-19T07:35:46+00:00 Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea Smith, Madison Thomson, Jim Deming, Jody W. Wilkinson, Jeremy 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000097 http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.12952/journal.elementa.000097/473448/21-171-1-ce.pdf en eng University of California Press Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene volume 4 ISSN 2325-1026 journal-article 2016 crunicaliforniap https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000097 2024-05-02T10:03:50Z Abstract The rapidly changing Arctic sea ice cover affects surface wave growth across all scales. Here, in situ measurements of waves, observed from freely-drifting buoys during the 2014 open water season, are interpreted using open water distances determined from satellite ice products and wind forcing time series measured in situ with the buoys. A significant portion of the wave observations were found to be limited by open water distance (fetch) when the wind duration was sufficient for the conditions to be considered stationary. The scaling of wave energy and frequency with open water distance demonstrated the indirect effects of ice cover on regional wave evolution. Waves in partial ice cover could be similarly categorized as distance-limited by applying the same open water scaling to determine an ‘effective fetch’. The process of local wave generation in ice appeared to be a strong function of the ice concentration, wherein the ice cover severely reduces the effective fetch. The wave field in the Beaufort Sea is thus a function of the sea ice both locally, where wave growth primarily occurs in the open water between floes, and regionally, where the ice edge may provide a more classic fetch limitation. Observations of waves in recent years may be indicative of an emerging trend in the Arctic Ocean, where we will observe increasing wave energy with decreasing sea ice extent. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Sea ice University of California Press Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 4 000097 |
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Open Polar |
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University of California Press |
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crunicaliforniap |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract The rapidly changing Arctic sea ice cover affects surface wave growth across all scales. Here, in situ measurements of waves, observed from freely-drifting buoys during the 2014 open water season, are interpreted using open water distances determined from satellite ice products and wind forcing time series measured in situ with the buoys. A significant portion of the wave observations were found to be limited by open water distance (fetch) when the wind duration was sufficient for the conditions to be considered stationary. The scaling of wave energy and frequency with open water distance demonstrated the indirect effects of ice cover on regional wave evolution. Waves in partial ice cover could be similarly categorized as distance-limited by applying the same open water scaling to determine an ‘effective fetch’. The process of local wave generation in ice appeared to be a strong function of the ice concentration, wherein the ice cover severely reduces the effective fetch. The wave field in the Beaufort Sea is thus a function of the sea ice both locally, where wave growth primarily occurs in the open water between floes, and regionally, where the ice edge may provide a more classic fetch limitation. Observations of waves in recent years may be indicative of an emerging trend in the Arctic Ocean, where we will observe increasing wave energy with decreasing sea ice extent. |
author2 |
Deming, Jody W. Wilkinson, Jeremy |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Smith, Madison Thomson, Jim |
spellingShingle |
Smith, Madison Thomson, Jim Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea |
author_facet |
Smith, Madison Thomson, Jim |
author_sort |
Smith, Madison |
title |
Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea |
title_short |
Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea |
title_full |
Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea |
title_fullStr |
Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Scaling observations of surface waves in the Beaufort Sea |
title_sort |
scaling observations of surface waves in the beaufort sea |
publisher |
University of California Press |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000097 http://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.12952/journal.elementa.000097/473448/21-171-1-ce.pdf |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Beaufort Sea Sea ice |
op_source |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene volume 4 ISSN 2325-1026 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000097 |
container_title |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |
container_volume |
4 |
container_start_page |
000097 |
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1799474779967717376 |