Modeling the Mechanical Energy Budget of the Beaufort Sea Ice Cover.

• Main Authors: Pritchard, Robert S, Coon, Max D, Thomas, D R
• Other Authors: FLOW RESEARCH INC KENT WA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1979
• Subjects: Meteorology; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *SEA ICE; *MECHANICAL ENERGY; STRESSES; MODELS; WIND; ENERGY TRANSFER; STRENGTH(MECHANICS); WINTER; AIR WATER INTERACTIONS; PLASTICS; BEAUFORT SEA; Wind stress; Energy budget; Energy balance; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Beaufort Sea; Ice; north slope; permafrost; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA103178; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA103178

The mechanical energy balance for the sea ice cover of the Beaufort Sea portion of the Arctic Ocean has been used to evaluate a parameter study on the strength of a plastic sea ice model. The results of this study show that a hardening plastic model with a diamond shaped yield surface and a compressive strength of 100,000 to 150,000 per Nm will simulate the winter behavior of ice in the Beaufort Sea accurately. The mechanical energy (power) budget utilizing a hardening plastic model was examined for a seventeen day period during the winter of 1976. The study period included two storms (extreme ice motion events) during which the power from the atmosphere is transferred to the sea ice cover and redistributed horizontally by the divergence of the stress flux, concentrating the dissipation of mechanical energy in the sea ice cover along the north slope of Alaska. These results show how the power from the atmosphere over the entire Beaufort Sea can be concentrated to ridge and raft sea ice and generate acoustic energy in the ocean along the margins of the Beaufort Sea. (Author)