Modelling of superimposed ice formation and subsurface melting
Superimposed ice formation and sub-surface melting were modelled using a one-dimensional thermodynamic sea ice model with the Baltic Air-Sea-Ice Study (BASIS) field data. During a thermal equilibrium stage in winter 1997/98, ice showed little mass change at the ice-water interface. The observations...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2003
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.527.1326 http://www.geophysica.fi/pdf/geophysica_2003_39_1-2_031_cheng.pdf |
| Summary: | Superimposed ice formation and sub-surface melting were modelled using a one-dimensional thermodynamic sea ice model with the Baltic Air-Sea-Ice Study (BASIS) field data. During a thermal equilibrium stage in winter 1997/98, ice showed little mass change at the ice-water interface. The observations indicated snow-to-ice transformation at the snow-ice interface. Numerical modelling suggested that the re-freezing of the surface melt water was the primary source of superimposed ice formation. A total of 5 of cm superimposed ice was modelled in BASIS-98. During early spring 1999, both observed and modelled ice temperatures indicated a sub-surface maximum at the melting point due to solar radiation penetrating below the surface. A 4.5 cm layer of snow melting was modelled, 20 % of which was accounted for by sub-surface melting. The model results indicated that superimposed ice formation made a contribution to the total ice thickness during mid-winter, while sub-surface melting contributed to the total melting during early spring. Sensitivity studies indicated that total melting is sensitive to the snow’s thermal properties, while sub-surface melting is sensitive to the snow’s extinction coefficient. |
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