Un modèle simple pour comprendre pourquoi la couche de glace à la surface d'un plan d'eau tend à rester relativement mince = A simple model to understand why the layer of ice on the surface of water level tends to remain relatively thin

• Main Authors: Deleersnijder, E., Goosse, H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: 1999
• Subjects: Heat balance; Heat transfer; Ice accretion; Insulating materials; Sea ice; Solidification; PN; Arctic; PS; Antarctica; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/263045.pdf

The ice covering salty or fresh water tends to remain rather thin, even if the air temperature is low for a long time. This is due to the insulating role of the ice cover itself, which slows down the transfer to the atmosphere of the heat produced by the solidification of the water. A simple thermodynamic model is developed to investigate the heat transfer processes associated with ice accretion. It is seen that the ice thickness tends to increase as the square root of the time elapsed and that the temperature profile in the ice layer is approximately linear. The stability of the solution obtained is examined. Finally, the simple model is applied to sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. The magnitude of the oceanic heat flux is shown to be partially responsible for the ice cover being generally thicker in the Arctic than in the Antarctic.