In Situ Measurements of an Energetic Wave Event in the Arctic Marginal Ice Zone

• Main Authors: Collins, III, Clarence O, Rogers, W E, Marchenko, Aleksey, Babanin, Alexander V
• Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB STENNIS DETACHMENT STENNIS SPACE CENTER MS OCEANOGRAPHY DIV
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *ICE FORECASTING; *ICE FORMATION; *MARGINAL ICE ZONES; ARCTIC REGIONS; ATTENUATION; COUPLING(INTERACTION); CRACKING(FRACTURING); ENERGETIC PROPERTIES; LOW FREQUENCY; MATHEMATICAL PREDICTION; MERCHANT VESSELS; OCEAN MODELS; OCEAN WAVES; PACK ICE; PEAK VALUES; SURFACE WAVES; TRANSMITTANCE; WAVE PROPAGATION; R/V LANCE; WAVE ENERGY; ICE FRACTURES; WAVE-ICE COUPLING; NONLINEARLY ENHANCED WAVES; ICE BREAKUP; Arctic; Ice Peak; Ice; permafrost; R/V Lance
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA622281; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA622281

R/V Lance serendipitously encountered an energetic wave event around 77 Degrees N, 26 Degrees E on 2 May 2010. Onboard GPS records, interpreted as the surface wave signal, show the largest waves recorded in the Arctic region with ice cover. Comparing the measurements with a spectral wave model indicated three phases of interaction: (1) wave blocking by ice, (2) strong attenuation of wave energy and fracturing of ice by wave forcing and (3) uninhibited propagation of the peak waves and an extension of allowed waves to higher frequencies (above the peak). Wave properties during fracturing of ice cover indicated increased groupiness. Wave-ice interaction presented binary behavior: there was zero transmission in unbroken ice and total transmission in fractured ice. The fractured ice front traveled at some fraction of the wave group speed. Findings do not motivate new dissipation schemes for wave models, though they do indicate the need for two-way, wave-ice coupling. Published in Geophysical Research Letters, v42 p1-8, 3 March 2015.