Application of a Numerical Sea Ice Model to the East Greenland Area

• Main Author: Tucker,Walter B , III
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1982
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *SEA ICE; VELOCITY; OCEAN CURRENTS; DYNAMICS; THERMODYNAMICS; GROWTH(GENERAL); WIND; MOTION; MATHEMATICAL PREDICTION; OCEAN MODELS; GREENLAND SEA; Greenland; East Greenland; Greenland Sea; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA120659; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA120659

A dynamic-thermodynamic sea ice model which employs a viscous-plastic constitutive law has been applied to East Greenland area. The model is run on a 40-km spatial scale at 1/4-day time steps for a 60-day period with forcing data beginning on 1 October 1979. Results tend to verify that the model predicts reasonable thicknesses and velocities within the ice margin. Thermodynamic ice growth produces excessive ice extent, however, probably due to inadequate parameterization of oceanic heat flux. Ice velocities near the free ice edge are also not well simulated, and preliminary investigations attribute this to an improper wind field in this area. A simulation which neglects ice strength, effectively damping ice interaciton with itself and allowing no resistance to deformation, produces excessive ice drift toward the coast and results in unrealistic nearshore thickness. A dynamics-only simulation produced reasonable results, including a more realistic ice extent, but the need for proper thermodynamics is also apparent. Other simulations verify that ice import from the Artic Basin, and ice transport due to winds and currents, were also important components in the model studies.