Scaling aspects of the sea-ice-drift dynamics and pack fracture

• Main Authors: Chmel, A., Smirnov, V. N., Panov, L. V.
• Other Authors: Fracture Physics Department St Petersburg, A.F. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS)-Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI), Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring (Roshydromet)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; North Pole; ice pack; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00298461; https://hal.science/hal-00298461/document; https://hal.science/hal-00298461/file/osd-4-107-2007.pdf

International audience A study of the sea-ice dynamics in the periods of time prior to and during the cycles of basin-wide fragmentation of the ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is presented. The fractal geometry of the ice-sheets limited by leads and ridges was assessed using the satellite images, while the data on the correlated sea-ice motion were obtained in the research stations "North Pole 32" and "North Pole 33" established on the ice pack. The revealed decrease of the fractal dimension as a result of large-scale fragmentation is consistent with the localization of the fracture process (leads propagation). At the same time, the scaling properties of the distribution of amplitudes of ice-fields accelerations were insensitive to the event of sea-ice fragmentation. The temporal distribution of the accelerations was scale-invariant during "quiet" periods of sea-ice drift but disordered in the period of mechanical perturbation. The period of decorrelated (in time) ice-field motion during the important fracture event was interpreted as an inter-level transition in the hierarchic dynamical system. The mechanism of the long-range correlations in the sea-ice cover, including the fracture process, is suggested to be in relation with the self-organized oscillation dynamics inherent in the ice pack.