Sea ice growth rates from tide-driven visible banding

• Main Authors: Turner, KE, Smith, IJ, Tison, J-L, Verbeke, V, McGuinness, Mark, Ingham, Malcolm, Vennell, R, Trodahl, Harry
• Format: Other Non-Article Part of Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Open Access Victoria University of Wellington | Te Herenga Waka 2021
• Subjects: Uncategorized; McMurdo Sound; ice core; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25455/wgtn.17148191; https://openaccess.wgtn.ac.nz/articles/journal_contribution/Sea_ice_growth_rates_from_tide-driven_visible_banding/17148191

In this paper, periodic tide-current-driven banding in a sea-ice core is demonstrated as a measure of the growth rate of first-year sea ice at congelation-ice depths. The study was performed on a core from the eastern McMurdo Sound, exploiting the well-characterized tidal pattern at the site. It points the way to a technique for determining early-season ice growth rates from late-season cores, in areas where under ice currents are known to be tidally dominated and the ice is landfast, thus providing data for a time of year when thin ice prevents direct thickness (and therefore growth rate) measurements. The measured results were compared to the growth-versus-depth predicted by a thermodynamic model.