Thick Sea-ice Floes

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Walker, E.R., Wadhams, Peter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1979
• Subjects: Formation; Ice floes; Sea ice; Canadian Arctic Islands waters; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; North Pole; Arctic Archipelago; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65664

This paper examines how sea ice floes of thickness exceeding 6 m can be formed in the Arctic. Such floes have been observed by a Soviet drifting station, by a submarine at the North Pole, and at three sites in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The Maykut and Untersteiner model of sea ice growth predicts an equilibrium thickness of 3 m under normal conditions, but if the oceanic heat flux is set to zero and the annual snowfall is increased to 1 m growth will continue to at least 12 m thickness over tens of years. The conclusion is that thick floes grow as 'plugs' of fast ice in constricted channels of shallow water at high latitudes, and that they break out into the Arctic Ocean only after many years of growth in place. Their history in some respects resembles that of Arctic ice shelves.