The Mountain Barrier Effect and Modification of Tabular Iceberg Motion in a Coastal Ice Zone

• Main Authors: Lu, Mingchi, Sackinger, W. M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Journal of Coastal Research 2012
• Subjects: Geoscience; Geography; Ocean Science; Oceanography; Marine Science; Coastal Geology; Earth and Environmental Sciences; Wind; iceberg; ice island; sea ice; geostrophic wind; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Heiberg; Axel Heiberg Island; Iceberg*; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://journals.fcla.edu/jcr/article/view/78230

A comparison was made between observed surface winds and geostrophic winds calculated from surface pressure maps, for the Arctic Ocean region near Axel Heiberg Island, during the May-September 1986 interval. For five distinct episodes, during which the geostrophic wind was directed from the west toward the mountain range, the surface wind, measured on Hobson's drifting ice island, 60 km west of the mountain barrier, was from the south. This is interpreted as additional experimental confirmation of the mountain barrier effect (PARISH, 1983). The effects on ice island motion near the Canadian Arctic coast are discussed.