MIZMAS: Modeling the Evolution of Ice Thickness and Floe Size Distributions in the Marginal Ice Zone of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas

• Main Authors: Zhang, Jinlun, Schweiger, Axel, Steele, Michael
• Other Authors: WASHINGTON UNIV SEATTLE APPLIED PHYSICS LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *SEA ICE; BEAUFORT SEA; EVOLUTION(GENERAL); MARGINAL ICE ZONES; SEASONAL VARIATIONS; SIZES(DIMENSIONS); THICKNESS; CHUKCHI AND BEAUFORT SEAS; Beaufort Sea; Chukchi; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA601248; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA601248

Our long-term goal is to develop a robust, high-resolution coupled sea ice ocean modeling and assimilation system that is capable of accurately predicting sea ice conditions in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas (CBS) on seasonal time scales. Our primary interest is the ability to realistically simulate the evolution of the multicategory ice thickness and floe size distributions (ITD, FSD) jointly in the CBS MIZ. Particularly, we would like to improve model physics to represent changes in FSD due to ice advection, thermodynamic growth or decay, lateral melting, ridging and rafting, and wave-induced fragmentation through theoretical development and numerical implementation.