Wave attenuation in the marginal ice zone during LIMEX

Abstract

During the Labrador Ice Margin Experiments, LIMEX ‘87 in March 1987 and LIMEX ‘89 in March and April 1989, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) CV‐580 aircraft collected synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data over the marginal ice zone off the east coast of Newfoundland, Canada. One aspect of these experimental programs was the observation of ocean waves penetrating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). Based upon directional wavenumber spectra derived from SAR image data, the wave attenuation rate is estimated using SAR image spectra and compared with predictions from a model developed by Liu and Mollo‐Christensen (1988). The wave and ice conditions were considerably different in LIMEX ‘87 and LIMEX ‘89. However, the model‐data comparisons are very good for all ice conditions observed. Both the model and the SAR‐derived wave attenuation rates show a characteristic roll‐over at high wavenumbers. A model for the eddy viscosity is proposed, using dimensional analysis, as a simple function of ice roughness and wave‐induced velocity. Eddy viscosities derived from SAR and wave buoy data for the wave attenuation rate show a trend that is consistent with the proposed model.     

Detection of the Labrador current using ice‐floe movement in synthetic aperture radar imagery and ice beacon trajectories

Abstract

Two sets of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images were collected, as part of the Labrador Ice Margin Experiment (LIMEX), over the Newfoundland Shelf on consecutive days in April 1990. Ice movement is detected from the displacement of ice floes between the two images sets and compared with ice drift data from six satellite‐tracked beacons and in situ CTD data. The ice velocity data derived from the SAR images and the beacons are used to generate a map of ice velocity vectors. A streamfunction map of ocean currents is produced by removing the direct wind‐driven component in the ice movement data, and by using an objective analysis method. The resulting flow pattern contains the offshore branch of the Labrador Current with a speed of 30 to 50 cm s^?1. The current closely follows the shelf break topography from north to south through the study area (47–50.5°N) as a continuous flow. In comparison, if the wind effect was not removed from the ice velocity data, the calculated Labrador Current north of 50°N would stray from the shelf break. The position of the current axis and the current speed derived from the ice movement data are in good agreement with the geostrophic current computed from the CTD data.     

A simulation of sea‐ice motion and distribution off Newfoundland during LIMEX,March 1987

Abstract

A coupled ice‐ocean dynamical model is applied to the simulation of sea‐ice motion and distribution off Newfoundland during the Labrador Ice Margin Experiment (LIMEX), March 1987. In the model, the ice is coupled to a barotropic ocean through an Ekman layer that deepens with increasing wind speed. A 6‐hourly gridded wind dataset was used as input to drive the ice and the ocean. The results show that ice velocities with ice‐ocean coupling are appreciably higher than those without coupling because of the generation of wind‐driven coastal currents. This suggests that coupled ice‐ocean dynamics should always be considered in short‐term sea‐ice models. The model gives reasonable agreement with the observed ice edge except in the southern boundary where ice‐melt has a strong influence on the ice‐edge position. Ocean currents, sea level and ice velocities computed from the model are in qualitative agreement with limited current‐meter, tide‐gauge, and ice drifter trajectory data.     

Small icebergs and iceberg fragments off Newfoundland: Relationships to deterioration mechanisms and the regional iceberg population

Abstract

Several sets of previously compiled data on iceberg size distributions in areas between North America and Greenland are compared and analyzed. The obtained results indicate that populations of icebergs with lengths L ≥ 20 m are well‐described by log‐normal and gamma distributions together with statistical parameters which are compatible with existing understanding of regional iceberg deterioration and change processes. A lesser amount of data on size distributions in Newfoundland icebergs with L < 20 m show occurrence probabilities which increase exponentially with decreasing iceberg length. Evidence is presented to show that these data are most consistent with the dominance of fracture processes in determining iceberg occurrence versus length relationships. Physical arguments are presented to suggest that the key fracture events are initiated in the larger icebergs by coincidences of wave‐generated bending stress maxima and randomly distributed structural flaws. Similar considerations and use of a simple sequential fracture model imply that size distributions in icebergs (and iceberg fragments) with L < 20 m are more consistent with the presence of an alternative, spontaneous failure mechanism also acting at randomly distributed structural defects. The implications of these results for forecasting and monitoring populations of small icebergs are discussed.     

Ice‐edge upwelling off the Newfoundland coast during LIMEX

Abstract

Analysis of CTD, Batfish and drifter data collected in the southern Labrador marginal ice zone during LIMEX (Labrador Ice Margin Experiment) in 1987 shows strong evidence of upwelling at the ice edge. The most clear indication of the upwelling is the rise of isopycnals and the increase of surface density near the ice edge. The upwelling zone has a width of 6 km extending from the ice edge, and an upwelling depth of at least 100 m. The existence of the upwelling zone along the ice edge is shown to be related to the character of the ice edge. Upwelling is more likely to occur at sharp and compacted ice edges. A two‐dimensional coupled ice‐ocean dynamical model of a continuously stratified ocean with a coastal boundary on a sloping bottom is used to study the dynamics of ice‐edge upwelling. The model results are in qualitative agreement with observations. A sensitivity analysis of the model is presented.     

Simulating Heinrich event 1 with interactive icebergs

During the last glacial, major abrupt climate events known as Heinrich events left distinct fingerprints of ice rafted detritus, and are thus associated with iceberg armadas; the release of many icebergs into the North Atlantic Ocean. We simulated the impact of a large armada of icebergs on glacial climate in a coupled atmosphere–ocean model. In our model, dynamic-thermodynamic icebergs influence the climate through two direct effects. First, melting of the icebergs causes freshening of the upper ocean, and second, the latent heat used in the phase-transition of ice to water results in cooling of the iceberg surroundings. This cooling effect of icebergs is generally neglected in models. We investigated the role of the latent heat by performing a sensitivity experiment in which the cooling effect is switched off. At the peak of the simulated Heinrich event, icebergs lacking the latent heat flux are much less efficient in shutting down the meridional overturning circulation than icebergs that include both the freshening and the cooling effects. The cause of this intriguing result must be sought in the involvement of a secondary mechanism: facilitation of sea-ice formation, which can disturb deep water production at key convection sites, with consequences for the thermohaline circulation. We performed additional sensitivity experiments, designed to explore the effect of the more plausible distribution of the dynamic icebergs’ melting fluxes compared to a classic hosing approach with homogeneous spreading of the melt fluxes over a section in the mid-latitude North Atlantic (NA) Ocean. The early response of the climate system is much stronger in the iceberg experiments than in the hosing experiments, which must be a distribution-effect: the dynamically distributed icebergs quickly affect western NADW formation, which synergizes with direct sea-ice facilitation, causing an earlier sea-ice expansion and climatic response. Furthermore, compared to dynamic-thermodynamic icebergs, a homogeneous hosing overestimates the fresh water flux in the Eastern Ruddiman belt, causing a fresh anomaly in the Eastern North Atlantic, leading to a delayed recovery of the circulation after the event.     

Drift of icebergs and ice fields in the northeastern part of the Barents Sea

Considered is the drift of 10 icebergs and 18 ice fields in the northeastern part of the Barents Sea from late May to September 2009. The drift speed is estimated by GPS measurements of geographic coordinates, and the wind, using the air pressure field. The drift variability in the range of synoptic and intraseasonal variability is analyzed by the vector-algebraic method based on the model of the random Euclidean vector. The conjugacy of the drift with the wind is represented by the indices of vector regression (the theory of A.M. Obukhov) and vector correlation. Ice fields differ from icebergs by the high velocities of drift, significant variability, and higher correlation with the wind (0.85–0.99 for fields and 0.78–0.91 for icebergs). The wind and nonwind components of the drift are singled out by the Watanabe-Gudkovich correlation method. Wind coefficients and angles of deviation for the wind drift component amounted to 0.016–0.023 and ?6°…+9° for fields and 0.010–0.015 and 10°–15° for icebergs. The cyclonic circulation is developed in the area of permanent surface currents (of the nonwind nature).     

Ice‐floe collisions interpreted from acceleration data during LIMEX ‘89

Abstract

Wave‐induced ice motions measured during the Labrador Ice Margin Experiment (LIMEX ‘89) were interpreted to determine the cause and the frequency of collisions between floes. The LIMEX acceleration data were acquired with an optimal resolution near the predominant wave frequency and did not contain information above 0.5 Hz. It was therefore possible to establish the frequency of collisions, but not the magnitude of the events. Events were defined by any contact between floes in a wave cycle, and the distribution of times between events indicates that floes are more likely to collide in adjacent wave cycles than if the events were independent. Periods of continuous and intermittent collisions were related to the wave characteristics, and the frequency of events increased with a decrease in air temperature and an increase in local wind speed. Contrary to expectations, there was not a positive relation between collision frequency and wave amplitude.     

Icebergs in the Southern Ocean and Factors Defining Their Distribution

Using the data of ~58 000 ship observations of Antarctic icebergs in 1947–2014, the map of average summertime concentration of icebergs (namely, of their number within a circle with the radius of 15 nautical miles) in the Southern Ocean was constructed. The main features of the iceberg distribution are revealed, and their possible reasons are investigated. It is shown that in the open ocean sea currents play a key role in the iceberg distribution. Wind effects are pronounced when ocean currents are weak or absent. According to the authors’ estimates, wind plays a decisive role only in the formation of one wide quasimeridional tongue of high iceberg concentration in the Weddell Sea. It is difficult to assess the impact of Antarctic glaciers’ productivity on the iceberg distribution, because currents, wind, and breaking and jamming of icebergs in shallow water areas cause their rapid redistribution. The clear physical explanation of the main features of iceberg concentration distribution on the constructed map indicates that it provides a rather real pattern.     

Application of a coupled ice‐ocean model to the Labrador Sea

Abstract

The steady, coupled ice‐ocean circulation model of Willmott and Mysak (1989) for a meridional channel is applied to the Labrador Sea for the winter season. The model consists of a thermodynamic reduced‐gravity ocean combined with a variable thickness ice cover that is in thermal equilibrium. Upon specifying the forcing fields of surface air temperature, wind stress and water temperature along the open southern boundary, the winter climatological ice‐edge position, ice thickness, ocean circulation and temperature fields are determined in the channel domain. The sensitivity of the results to the various model parameters is examined. In particular, the optimum heat exchange coefficients for the interfaces of air‐water, ice‐water and air‐ice are found.

The model ice‐edge position compares favourably with the 50% winter climatological ice concentration isoline obtained from an analysis of 32 years (1953–84) of sea‐ice concentration data. The simulations of the ocean temperature and ice thickness are also quite realistic according to the observed records available. The model is also applied to two specific winters (1981 and 1983) during which anomalous sea‐ice and weather conditions prevailed in the Labrador Sea.     

A snapshot of the Labrador current inferred from ice‐floe movement in NOAA satellite imagery

Abstract

Ice floes along the Labrador Coast were tracked using visible NOAA satellite images on two consecutive days (26 and 27 April, 1984) when the ice‐pack extended beyond the Labrador Current, and winds were weak. The resulting “snapshot” of the velocity field reveals strong topographic steering of the Labrador Current, such that the current speed and width in different areas are dependent on the steepness of the continental slope, and the current deflects into and out of Hopedale Saddle. Between 55 and 58°N, the main core of the current is 60–90 km wide, with speeds of 30–55 cm s^?1. The overall circulation pattern is in good agreement with historical water mass analyses over the shelf and slope, and with estimates of the speed of the Labrador Current obtained by other methods.     

Upward flushing of sea water through first year ice

Abstract

Observations in both the ice and slush layers suggest that sea water intrudes into the snow layer following a snow storm. Ice temperature values recorded at 1 cm below the snow‐ice interface show that the upward flux of sea water is of short duration. This is followed by a period of intense brine drainage characterized by the migration of a salty brine layer, with salinities up to 42 psu. These results suggest that a snow storm induces a complete (upward) flushing of the brine channel network and major modifications of snow and ice characteristics.

Melt rates and downward brine fluxes were calculated using salinity measured in a 40 cm deep box placed on the ice‐water interface, which isolated a 50 × 50 cm area of sea ice from ocean mixing processes. In this semi‐isolated environment, observed salinity changes allowed us to determine melt water fluxes and brine drainage or flushing even though ice thickness measurements did not show any significant change. Melt rates up to 21 cm/month and equivalent growth rates up to 32 cm/month were measured.     

基于SAR数据的南极冰山分布监测

随着全球气候变暖,冰架崩解事件的发生愈益频繁.冰架崩解产生的冰山是南极冰盖-冰架-海洋系统中活跃的组成部分,冰山的运动特征和时空分布对南大洋洋流循环、海洋生态以及水文系统有着非常重要的影响.因此利用卫星遥感监测冰山运动与变化信息,探究冰山崩解和消融过程,研究南极冰山分布,以及冰山和周围海洋环境之间的相互作用机制,是理解南极冰山变化与全球气候变化之间关系的关键.本文利用覆盖全南极海岸线的ENVISAT ASAR影像,基于简译软件的面向对象的多尺度图像分割算法实现了全南极近岸海域冰山对象的提取.利用2006年8月63期ENVISAT ASAR影像提取了32 267座面积大于0.06 km²的冰山,统计了冰山空间分布特征,研究发现南极小型冰山在全南极淡水输入中扮演着重要的作用.     

Physical properties and isotopic characteristics of landfast sea ice around the North Water (NOW) Polynya region

Abstract

An ice core sampling program was conducted during the North Water (NOW) Polynya Project 1998 Experiment in northern Baffin Bay during April‐May 1998. The physical properties of snow and sea ice as well as the microstructure and stable isotopic composition of first‐year landfast sea ice near the polynya were investigated. The thickness of sea ice at the sampling sites ranged between 147 and 194 cm with thinner snow cover during the period between mid‐April and late May. The ice was characterized as typical first‐year landfast sea ice, being composed of a thin granular ice layer at the top and an underlying columnar ice layer towards the bottom of the ice. The samples obtained at a site closer to the ice edge of the polynya contained a thin granular ice layer originating from frazil ice near the ice bottom. Formation of frazil ice was considered to be caused by turbulent processes induced by winds, waves and currents forced from the polynya and also mixing with water masses produced at the polynya.     

On the interannual variability of arctic sea‐level pressure and sea ice

Abstract

Monthly mean sea‐level pressure (SLP) data from the Northern Hemisphere for the period January 1952‐December 1987 are analysed. Fluctuations in this field over the Arctic on interannual time‐scales and their statistical association with fluctuations farther south are determined. The standard deviation of the interannual variability is largest compared with that of the annual cycle along the seaboards of the major land masses. The SLP anomalies are generally in phase over the entire Arctic Basin and extend south over the northern Russia and Canada, but tend to be out of phase with fluctuations at mid‐latitudes. The anomalies are most closely associated with fluctuations over the North Atlantic and Europe except near the Chukchi Sea to the north of Bering Strait. The associations with the North Pacific fluctuations become increasingly more prominent at most Arctic sites (e.g. the Canadian Arctic Archipelago) as the time‐scale increases.

Associations between the SLP fluctuations and atmospheric indices that represent processes affecting sea‐ice drift (wind stress and wind stress curl) are determined. In every case local associations dominate, but some remote ones are also evident. For example, changes in the magnitude of the wind stress curl over the Beaufort Sea are increased if the atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific is intensified; wind stress over the region where sea ice is exchanged between the Beaufort Gyre and the Transpolar Drift Stream is modulated by both the Southern and North Atlantic Oscillations.

Severe sea‐ice conditions in the Greenland Sea (as measured by the Koch Ice Index) coincide with a weakened atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic.     

Trends and Variability in Sea Ice and Icebergs off the Canadian East Coast

ABSTRACT

Seasonal time series of sea-ice area or extent in several regions along the east coast of Canada were compiled from several sources for the period 1901 to 2013 and compared with an index of ice extent off southwest Greenland, iceberg season length south of 48°N, air temperature, and other climate indices. Trends in winter ice area and iceberg season length are significant over the past 100 years and 30 years. Variability of winter ice area and iceberg season length is associated with a combination of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) indices superimposed on a negative trend. Thus, large declines in ice area and iceberg season length in the 1920s and 1990s can be attributed to a decreasing NAO index and a shift to the positive phase of the AMO at the end of these decades. Ice extent in southern areas such as the Scotian Shelf is more strongly correlated with the Western Atlantic index than with the NAO. Ice area trends (in percent per decade) are larger in magnitude and account for twice as much of the variance in ice area for summer than for winter, with summer trends significant over 30-, 60- and 100-year periods. Sea-ice variability is generally consistent with air temperature variability in the various regions; in the 1930s, during the early twentieth-century warming period, ice anomalies were higher and temperature anomalies were lower along the coast of eastern Canada than along the coast of southwestern Greenland.     

A comparison of conventional and passive microwave sea‐ice datasets for Hudson Bay

Abstract

A sea‐ice dataset derived from passive microwave data acquired by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) is compared with a conventional sea‐ice dataset from Ice Branch, Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada. The conventional set uses data from several sources including ships of opportunity, reconnaissance aircraft, satellite photographs and climate stations. The comparison was made for a 3‐year period from 1979 to 1981 over Hudson Bay, an area that is covered with first‐year ice only. For 8 of the 12 months of the year, monthly area‐average ice concentrations are within one tenth; larger differences are evident during periods of melting and freeze‐up. Extensive ponding on first‐year ice during the melt season is interpreted as open water by the SMMR algorithm, leading to significant “errors” in the passive microwave dataset. By comparing the two datasets, we were able to show the extent of ponding on the ice for a complete seasonal melt cycle. During freeze‐up the algorithm, under some conditions, provides a better estimate of the amount of ice than a conventional dataset owing to the difficulty of observing the presence of new ice.     

A role for icebergs in the 8.2 ka climate event

We investigate the potential role of icebergs in the 8.2 ka climate event, using a coupled climate model equipped with an iceberg component. First, we evaluate the effect of a large iceberg discharge originating from the decaying Laurentide ice sheet on ocean circulation, compared to a release of an identical volume of freshwater alone. Our results show that, on top of the freshwater effect, a large iceberg discharge facilitates sea-ice growth as a result of lower sea-surface temperatures induced by latent heat of melting. This causes an 8% increased sea-ice cover, 5% stronger reduction in North Atlantic Deep Water production and 1°C lower temperature in Greenland. Second, we use the model to investigate the effect of a hypothetical two-stage lake drainage, which is suggested by several investigators to have triggered the 8.2 ka climate event. To account for the final collapse of the ice-dam holding the Laurentide Lakes we accompany the secondary freshwater pulse in one scenario with a fast 5-year iceberg discharge and in a second scenario with a slow 100-year iceberg discharge. Our experiments show that a two-stage lake drainage accompanied by the collapsing ice-dam could explain the anomalies observed around the 8.2 ka climate event in various climate records. In addition, they advocate a potential role for icebergs in the 8.2 ka climate event and illustrate the importance of latent heat of melting in the simulation of climate events that involve icebergs. Our two-stage lake drainage experiments provide a framework in the discussion of two-stage lake drainage and ice sheet collapse.     

The effects of precipitation and river runoff in a coupled ice-ocean model of the Arctic

A coupled ice-ocean model of the Arctic is developed in order to study the effects of precipitation and river runoff on sea ice. A dynamic-thermodynamic sea ice model is coupled to an ocean general circulation model which includes a turbulent closure scheme for vertical mixing. The model is forced by interannually varying atmospheric temperature and pressure data from 1980–1989, and spatially varying mean monthly precipitation and river runoffs. Salinity and fresh water fluxes to the ocean from ice growth, snow melt, rain, and runoffs are computed, with no artificial constraints on the ocean salinity. The modeled ice thickness is similar to the observed pattern, with the thickest ice remaining against the Canadian Archipelago throughout the year. The modeled ice drift reproduces the Beaufort gyre and Transpolar drift exiting through Fram Strait. The stable arctic halocline produced by the vertical mixing scheme isolates the surface from the Atlantic layer and reduces the vertical fluxes of heat and salinity. A sensitivity experiment with zero precipitation results in rapidly decreasing ice thickness, in response to greater ocean heat flux from a weakening of the halocline, while an experiment with doubled precipitation results in a smaller increase in ice thickness. A zero-runoff experiment results in a slower decrease in ice thickness than the zero-precipitation case, due to the decadal time scale of the transport of runoff in the model. The results suggest that decadal trends in both arctic precipitation and river runoffs, caused either by anthropogenic or natural climatic change, have the potential to exert broad-scale impacts on the arctic sea ice regime. Received: 6 February 1996 / Accepted: 4 April 1996     

Record Low Sea-Ice Concentration in the Central Arctic during Summer 2010

The Arctic sea-ice extent has shown a declining trend over the past 30 years. Ice coverage reached historic minima in 2007 and again in 2012. This trend has recently been assessed to be unique over at least the last 1450 years. In the summer of 2010, a very low sea-ice concentration(SIC) appeared at high Arctic latitudes—even lower than that of surrounding pack ice at lower latitudes. This striking low ice concentration—referred to here as a record low ice concentration in the central Arctic(CARLIC)—is unique in our analysis period of 2003–15, and has not been previously reported in the literature. The CARLIC was not the result of ice melt, because sea ice was still quite thick based on in-situ ice thickness measurements.Instead, divergent ice drift appears to have been responsible for the CARLIC. A high correlation between SIC and wind stress curl suggests that the sea ice drift during the summer of 2010 responded strongly to the regional wind forcing. The drift trajectories of ice buoys exhibited a transpolar drift in the Atlantic sector and an eastward drift in the Pacific sector,which appeared to benefit the CARLIC in 2010. Under these conditions, more solar energy can penetrate into the open water,increasing melt through increased heat flux to the ocean. We speculate that this divergence of sea ice could occur more often in the coming decades, and impact on hemispheric SIC and feed back to the climate.