Sea Ice Floe Distribution in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas Measured by ERS-1 SAR

• Main Authors: Holt, Benjamin, Rio, Marie-H鬩ne
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: sea ice floes SAR imagery Beaufort Sea Chukchi Sea heat budget summer melt; Chukchi Sea; Beaufort Sea; Chukchi; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2014/27759

This study examines the spatial and temporal character of sea ice floe size distribution during summer melt, important variables for understanding the summer heat and mass budgets and the distribution of heat between the vertical and horizontal ice melt. Preliminary results are presented that indicate the gradual decrease in medium size floes (1-5 km diameters) and a fairly steady maintenance of floes smaller than 1 km in diameter over the primary summer months within the central pack ice region. The latter result indicates that smaller floes continue to melt or decay rather than accumulate, indicating the importance of dynamics in affecting ice melt.