Sea Ice Ridging over the Alaskan Continental Shelf,
Abstract
Sea ice ridging statistics obtained from a series of laser surface roughnessprofiles are examined. Each set of profiles consists of six 200-km-long flight tracks oriented approximately perpendicular to the coastline of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The landward ends of the profiles were located at Point Lay, Wainwright, Barrow, Lonely, Cross Island and Barter Island. The flights were made in February, April, August, and December 1976, and one additional profile was obtained north of Cross Island during March 1978. It was found that although there is a systematic variation in mean ridge height (h) with season (with the highest values occurring in late winter), there is no systematic spatial variation in h at a given time. The number of ridges/km (micron) is also high during the late winter, with the highest values occurring in the Barter and Cross Island profiles . In most profiles, the ice 20 to 60 km from the coast is more highly deformed (higher micron values) than the ice either nearer the coast or farther seaward. The Wadhams model for the distribution of ridge heights gives better agreement with observed values in the higher ridge categories than does the Hibler model. Estimates of the spatial recurrence frequency of large pressure ridges are made by using the Wadhams model and also by using an extreme value approach. In the latter, the distribution of the lagest ridges per 20 km of laser track was found to be essentially normal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA070572
Entities
People
- M. D. Frank
- W. B. Tucker Iii
- Wilford Frank Weeks
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory