The Effects of Time-Dependent Winds and Ocean Eddies on Ice Motion in a Marginal Ice Zone.

• Main Author: Barker, Jeffrey L
• Other Authors: NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; Meteorology; Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; *EDDIES(FLUID MECHANICS); *SEA ICE; *WIND; BAROMETRIC PRESSURE; EAST(DIRECTION); EDGES; EQUATIONS; FLUIDS; FRONTS(OCEANOGRAPHY); GREENLAND; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; MOTION; OCEAN MODELS; OCEANS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; REVERSIBLE; SIGNATURES; STABILITY; STRATIFICATION; TIME DEPENDENCE; TRANSIENTS; OCEAN CURRENTS; COUPLING(INTERACTION); WIND DIRECTION; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; THESES; Marginal ice zones; East Greenland current; Ice motion; Mesoscale eddies; Greenland; East Greenland; east greenland current; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA190105; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA190105

Observations made during the MIZEX program indicate the presence of mesoscale eddies in the ocean front at the marginal ice edge in the East Greenland Current. The eddies ranged in scale from 5 to 80 km. Barotropic and baroclinic instability may be the physical mechanisms responsible for the existance of such eddies. The observations also indicate transient wind reversals (3-10 m/s) with a frequency of several days. Here the effect of time-dependent winds and ocean eddies on ice motion in a marginal ice zone is studied. Results are obtained with a two-layer, nonlinear, primitive equation ocean model and a coupled free-drift ice model. THe results indicate that ocean eddy signature in the ice edge is sensitive to cross-ice-edge motion induced by the winds and is shown to be dependent on magnitude, direction, and duration of the wind.