Sea-ice conditions in the Adelie Depression, Antarctica, during besetment of the icebreaker RV Xuelong

During the 30th Chinese Antarctic Expedition in 2013/14, the Chinese icebreaker RV Xuelong answered a rescue call from the Russian RV Akademik Shokalskiy . While assisting the repatriation of personnel from the Russian vessel to the Australian RV Aurora Australis ,RV Xuelong itself became entrapped...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Zhai, M, Li, X, Hui, F, Cheng, X, Heil, P, Zhao, T, Jiang, T, Cheng, C, Ci, T, Liu, Y, Chi, Z, Liu, J
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Int Glaciol Soc 2015
Subjects:
Earth Sciences
Oceanography
Physical Oceanography
Adelie Depression
Antarctic
Annals of Glaciology
Antarc*
Antarctica
aurora australis
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3189/2015AoG69A007
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/106842
Description
Summary:During the 30th Chinese Antarctic Expedition in 2013/14, the Chinese icebreaker RV Xuelong answered a rescue call from the Russian RV Akademik Shokalskiy . While assisting the repatriation of personnel from the Russian vessel to the Australian RV Aurora Australis ,RV Xuelong itself became entrapped within the compacted ice in the Adlie Depression region. Analysis of MODIS and SAR imagery provides a detailed description of the regional sea-ice conditions which led to the 6 day long besetment of RV Xuelong . The remotely sensed imageryrevealed four stages of sea-ice characteristics during the entrapment: the gathering, compaction, dispersion and calving stages. Four factors characterizing the local sea-ice conditions during late December 2013 and early January 2014 were identified: surface component of the coastal current;near-surface wind; ocean tides; and surface air temperature. This study demonstrates that shipping activity in ice-invested waters should be underpinned by general knowledge of the ice situation. In addition, during such activity high spatiotemporal resolution remotely sensed data should beacquired regularly to monitor local and regional sea-ice changes with a view to avoiding the besetment of vessels.

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