Physical and Structural Characteristics of Weddell Sea Pack Ice

• Main Authors: Gow, Anthony J, Ackley, Stephen F, Buck, Kurt R, Golden, Kenneth M
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *PACK ICE; ANTARCTIC REGIONS; ARCTIC OCEAN; ARCTIC REGIONS; MARINE BIOLOGY; CONSISTENCY; CORES; DRILLING; FLUORESCENCE; ICE; ICE FORMATION; MELTING; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; SALINITY; SEA ICE; STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES; SUMMER; SURFACE PROPERTIES; SURFACES; THICKNESS; TURBULENCE; SEA WATER; Weddell Sea; Frazil ice; Antarctic; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Weddell; Antarc*; Arctic Basin; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA188189; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA188189

During February and March 1980 the physical properties of Weddell Sea pack ice were investigated via core drilling of 66 floes located along the transect of 600 nautical miles from 64 deg S to 74 deg S latitude at roughly 40 deg W longitude. These studies revealed widespread frazil ice in amounts not known to exist in Arctic sea ice of comparable age and thickness. It is estimated from structure studies of 62 of the 66 floes that 54% of the total ice production of the Weddell Sea is generated as frazil. The disposition and exceptional thickness of the frazil show that mechanisms other than surface turbulence effects are involved and imply that the circulation and structure of the water in the upper levels pf the Weddell Sea are significantly different from those in the Arctic basin. Salinities of both first-year and multi-year floes are notably higher than those of their Arctic counterparts because summer surface melting is rare or absent in the Weddell Sea; in the Arctic, downward percolating meltwater flushes through the ice and lowers its salinity. Fluorescence was evaluated as a means of revealing biological activity in Weddell Sea pack ice. It proved useful as an index of combined living and dead material in the ice, but measurements failed to establish any consistent relationship between fluorescence and salinity as suggested be earlier work in the Weddell Sea.