The Seasonal Evolution of Sea Ice Floe Size Distribution

• Main Authors: Richter-Menge, Jacqueline A, Perovich, Donald K
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER NH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *MARGINAL ICE ZONES; BEAUFORT SEA; CHUKCHI SEA; SEA ICE; SIZES(DIMENSIONS); ICE FLOES; SIZE DISTRIBUTION; Chukchi Sea; Beaufort Sea; Chukchi; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA601069; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA601069

Long-term Goals: This work is motivated by the desire to improve the understanding of processes governing the evolution of the marginal ice zone that forms seasonally in the southern Beaufort and Chukchi Seas region. The objective of this work is to determine the seasonal evolution of the floe size distribution (Figure 1), paying particular attention to the role of winter preconditioning of the ice on summer floe breakup. To achieve this objective we will: 1. Develop a mathematical framework for the floe size distribution. 2. Calculate the floe size distribution at several times during spring and summer. 3. Determine the floe breaking function by tracking individual floes using high resolution imagery. 4. Estimate lateral melt rates from high resolution imagery. 5. Investigate the roles of wave action and ice preconditioning in floe breakup. 6. Assess the relative contributions of dynamics and thermodynamics to changes in the floe size distribution.