Observations of exponential wave attenuation in Antarctic sea ice during the PIPERS campaign

Quantifying the rate of wave attenuation in sea ice is key to understanding trends in the Antarctic marginal ice zone extent. However, a paucity of observations of waves in sea ice limits progress on this front. We deployed 14 waves-in-ice observation systems (WIIOS) on Antarctic sea ice during the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Kohout, AL, Smith, M, Roach, LA, Williams, G, Montiel, F, Williams, MJM
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Int Glaciol Soc 2020
Subjects:
Earth Sciences
Oceanography
Physical oceanography
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Ross Sea
Pancake
Annals of Glaciology
Antarc*
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2020.36
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/143547
Description
Summary:Quantifying the rate of wave attenuation in sea ice is key to understanding trends in the Antarctic marginal ice zone extent. However, a paucity of observations of waves in sea ice limits progress on this front. We deployed 14 waves-in-ice observation systems (WIIOS) on Antarctic sea ice during the Polynyas, Ice Production, and seasonal Evolution in the Ross Sea expedition (PIPERS) in 2017. The WIIOS provide in situ measurement of surface wave characteristics. Two experiments were conducted, one while the ship was inbound and one outbound. The sea ice throughout the experiments generally consisted of pancake and young ice <0.5 m thick. The WIIOS survived a minimum of 4 d and a maximum of 6 weeks. Several large-wave events were captured, with the largest recorded significant wave height over 9 m. We find that the total wave energy measured by the WIIOS generally decays exponentially in the ice and the rate of decay depends on ice concentration.

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