Temperature Changes in First Year Arctic Sea Ice During the Decay Process.

• Main Authors: Johnston, Michelle, Timco, Garry
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2002
• Subjects: Arctic; McDougall Sound; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/accepted/?id=02f88ffc-4da0-4c54-89dc-93d6e23a911b; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=02f88ffc-4da0-4c54-89dc-93d6e23a911b; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=02f88ffc-4da0-4c54-89dc-93d6e23a911b

Measurements of the seasonal deterioration of landfast, first year sea ice were made in McDougall Sound, Eastern Canadian Arctic, from early May to July 2002. Ice temperatures were obtained from a temperature chain that was frozen into the ice. The uppermost 0.40 m of ice responded to short-term fluctuations in air temperature. Ice below a depth of 0.50 m showed longer-term response to the steady increase in air temperature. During the decay process, the winter profile of increasing ice temperature with increasing depth reversed; the upper ice surface was warmer than the bottom ice. A systematic increase in ice temperature was observed in ice at all depths. Warming rates decreased linearly from top to bottom, from 0.26°C/day to 0.03°C/day respectively. An analysis showed that the rate of ice decay could be approximated knowing the air temperature/ice surface temperature, ice thickness, and its depth-dependent warming rate. NRC publication: Yes