Relating wave attenuation to pancake ice thickness, using field measurements and model results

• Main Authors: Doble, Martin J., De Carolis, Giacomo, Meylan, Michael H., Bidlot, Jean-Raymond, Wadhams, Peter
• Other Authors: The University of Newcastle. Faculty of Science & Information Technology, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union 2015
• Subjects: Wave attenuation coefficient; ice thickness; Weddell Sea; pancake ice; Weddell; Pancake
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1339328

Wave attenuation coefficients (a, m -1 ) were calculated from in situ data transmitted by custom wave buoys deployed into the advancing pancake ice region of the Weddell Sea. Data cover a 12day period as the buoy array was first compressed and then dilated under the influence of a passing low-pressure system. Attenuation was found to vary over more than 2 orders of magnitude and to be far higher than that observed in broken-floe marginal ice zones. A clear linear relation between a and ice thickness was demonstrated, using ice thickness from a novel dynamic/thermodynamic model. A simple expression for a in terms of wave period and ice thickness was derived, for application in research and operational models. The variation of a was further investigated with a two-layer viscous model, and a linear relation was found between eddy viscosity in the sub-ice boundary layer and ice thickness.