Measurements of wave damping by a grease ice slick in Svalbard using off-the-shelf sensors and open-source electronics

Versatile instruments assembled from off-the-shelf sensors and open-source electronics are used to record wave propagation and damping measured by Inertial Motion Units (IMUs) in a grease ice slick near the shore in Adventfjorden, Svalbard. Viscous attenuation of waves due to the grease ice slick is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: Rabault, Jean, Sutherland, Graigory John, Gundersen, Olav, Jensen, Atle
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: International Glaciological Society 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10852/58553
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-61257
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.1
Description
Summary:Versatile instruments assembled from off-the-shelf sensors and open-source electronics are used to record wave propagation and damping measured by Inertial Motion Units (IMUs) in a grease ice slick near the shore in Adventfjorden, Svalbard. Viscous attenuation of waves due to the grease ice slick is clearly visible by comparing the IMU data recorded by the different instruments. The frequency dependent spatial damping of the waves is computed by comparing the power spectral density obtained from the different IMUs. We model wave attenuation using the one-layer model of Weber from 1987. The best-fit value for the effective viscosity is ν = (0.95 ± 0.05 × 10−2)m2 s−1, and the coefficient of determination is R 2 = 0.89. The mean absolute error and RMSE of the damping coefficient are 0.037 and 0.044m−1, respectively. These results provide continued support for improving instrument design for recording wave propagation in ice-covered regions, which is necessary to this area of research as many authors have underlined the need for more field data.