Ship-borne electromagnetic induction sounding of sea ice thickness in the Arctic during summer 2003

• Main Authors: Kunio Shirasawa, Kazutaka Tateyama, Toru Takatsuka, Toshiyuki Kawamura, Shotaro Uto
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University/Department of Civil Engineering, Kitami Institute of Technology/Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University/Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University/National Maritime Research Institute 2006
• Subjects: Arctic; sea ice thickness; electlo-magnetic inductive device (EM); Chukchi Sea; Chukchi; Polar meteorology and glaciology; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=3004; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00003004/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=3004&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Measurements of ice thickness were carried out by a ship-borne electromagnetic induction instrument mounted on the R/V Xuelong during the Second Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE-2003) in summer 2003 in the Chukchi Sea. A 1-D multi-layer model, consisting of three layers of snow, ice and seawater, was used to calculate the total thickness of snow and sea ice. The time series of total thickness from 24 August to 7 September 2003 indicates that deformed and second-/multi-year ice floes appear frequently in very close pack ice farther from the ice edge, while thinner ice floes less than 1 m are frequently found in open pack ice. The probability density function of total thickness shows that a major peak appears at around 1.5 m thickness in very close pack ice, presumably corresponding to second-year or deformed ice. Also shown is a peak at around 0.3 m thickness, corresponding to typical level ice in open pack ice.