Buoy measurements of strong waves in ice amplitude modulation: a signature of complex physics governing waves in ice attenuation ...

• Main Authors: Rabault, J., Halsne, T., Carrasco, A., Korosov, A., Voermans, J., Bohlinger, P., Debernard, J. B., Müller, M., Breivik, Ø., Nose, T., Hope, G., Collard, F., Herlédan, S., Kodaira, T., Hughes, N., Zhang, Q., Christensen, K. H., Babanin, A., Dreyer, L. W., Palerme, C., Aouf, L., Christakos, K., Jensen, A., Röhrs, J., Marchenko, A., Sutherland, G., Løken, T. K., Waseda, T.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: arXiv 2024
• Subjects: Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph; FOS: Physical sciences; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2401.07619; https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.07619

The Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) forms a critical transition region between the ocean and sea ice cover as it protects the close ice further in from the effect of the steepest and most energetic open ocean waves. As waves propagate through the MIZ, they get exponentially attenuated. Unfortunately, the associated attenuation coefficient is difficult to accurately estimate and model, and there are still large uncertainties around which attenuation mechanisms dominate depending on the conditions. This makes it challenging to predict waves in ice attenuation, as well as sea ice breakup and dynamics. Here, we report in-situ observations of strongly modulated waves-in-ice amplitude, with a modulation period of around 12 hours. We show that simple explanations, such as changes in the incoming open water waves, or the effect of tides and currents and bathymetry, cannot explain for the observed modulation. Therefore, the significant wave height modulation observed in the ice most likely comes from a modulation of the ...