Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice
Sea ice inhibits the development of wind‐generated surface gravity waves which are the dominant factor in upper ocean mixing and air‐sea fluxes. In turn, sea ice properties are modified by wave action. Understanding the interaction of ice and waves is important for characterizing both air‐sea intera...
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ftarchimer:oai:archimer.ifremer.fr:74435 2023-05-15T18:16:25+02:00 Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice Ardhuin, Fabrice Otero, Mark Merrifield, Sophia Grouazel, Antoine Terrill, Eric 2020-07 application/pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/74156.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087699 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/ eng eng American Geophysical Union (AGU) https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/74156.pdf doi:10.1029/2020GL087699 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess restricted use Geophysical Research Letters (0094-8276) (American Geophysical Union (AGU)), 2020-07 , Vol. 47 , N. 13 , P. e2020GL087699 (7p.) sea ice ocean waves SAR text Publication info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2020 ftarchimer https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087699 2021-09-23T20:35:14Z Sea ice inhibits the development of wind‐generated surface gravity waves which are the dominant factor in upper ocean mixing and air‐sea fluxes. In turn, sea ice properties are modified by wave action. Understanding the interaction of ice and waves is important for characterizing both air‐sea interactions and sea ice dynamics. Current leading theory attributes wave attenuation primarily to scattering by ice floes. Here we use new in situ wave measurements to show that attenuation is dominated by dissipation with negligible effect by scattering. Time series of wave height in ice exhibit an ``on/off" behavior that is consistent with switching between two states of sea ice; a relatively unbroken state associated with strong damping (off), possibly caused by ice flexure, and very weak attenuation (on) across sea ice that has been broken up by wave action. Plain Language Summary Waves created by wind at the ocean surface are strongly attenuated when they travel across ice‐covered regions. Until now, this effect was thought to be the result of waves reflection off pieces of ice. Using new measurements of wave directions, we show that waves do not come for a broad range of directions, and scattering must be weak. Instead we find that attenuation is highly variable and related to the size of ice floes. We hypothesize that attenuation may be caused by cyclic deformation of the ice. When the waves are large enough to break the ice up, this deformation stops and the attenuation is much less. This finding is important for forecasting waves in ice‐infested waters as well as predicting seasonal sea ice extent. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Southern Ocean Archimer (Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer - Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer) Southern Ocean Geophysical Research Letters 47 13 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archimer (Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer - Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer) |
op_collection_id |
ftarchimer |
language |
English |
topic |
sea ice ocean waves SAR |
spellingShingle |
sea ice ocean waves SAR Ardhuin, Fabrice Otero, Mark Merrifield, Sophia Grouazel, Antoine Terrill, Eric Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice |
topic_facet |
sea ice ocean waves SAR |
description |
Sea ice inhibits the development of wind‐generated surface gravity waves which are the dominant factor in upper ocean mixing and air‐sea fluxes. In turn, sea ice properties are modified by wave action. Understanding the interaction of ice and waves is important for characterizing both air‐sea interactions and sea ice dynamics. Current leading theory attributes wave attenuation primarily to scattering by ice floes. Here we use new in situ wave measurements to show that attenuation is dominated by dissipation with negligible effect by scattering. Time series of wave height in ice exhibit an ``on/off" behavior that is consistent with switching between two states of sea ice; a relatively unbroken state associated with strong damping (off), possibly caused by ice flexure, and very weak attenuation (on) across sea ice that has been broken up by wave action. Plain Language Summary Waves created by wind at the ocean surface are strongly attenuated when they travel across ice‐covered regions. Until now, this effect was thought to be the result of waves reflection off pieces of ice. Using new measurements of wave directions, we show that waves do not come for a broad range of directions, and scattering must be weak. Instead we find that attenuation is highly variable and related to the size of ice floes. We hypothesize that attenuation may be caused by cyclic deformation of the ice. When the waves are large enough to break the ice up, this deformation stops and the attenuation is much less. This finding is important for forecasting waves in ice‐infested waters as well as predicting seasonal sea ice extent. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ardhuin, Fabrice Otero, Mark Merrifield, Sophia Grouazel, Antoine Terrill, Eric |
author_facet |
Ardhuin, Fabrice Otero, Mark Merrifield, Sophia Grouazel, Antoine Terrill, Eric |
author_sort |
Ardhuin, Fabrice |
title |
Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice |
title_short |
Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice |
title_full |
Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice |
title_fullStr |
Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice Breakup Controls Dissipation of Wind Waves Across Southern Ocean Sea Ice |
title_sort |
ice breakup controls dissipation of wind waves across southern ocean sea ice |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/74156.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087699 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/ |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Geophysical Research Letters (0094-8276) (American Geophysical Union (AGU)), 2020-07 , Vol. 47 , N. 13 , P. e2020GL087699 (7p.) |
op_relation |
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/74156.pdf doi:10.1029/2020GL087699 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00632/74435/ |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess restricted use |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087699 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
47 |
container_issue |
13 |
_version_ |
1766190026485399552 |