A Measurement of Sea Ice Properties at Chukchi Borderland During the Summer

Sea ice properties have been considered a key indicator in the structural design criteria of icebreaking vessels and arctic offshore platforms to estimate design ice load and resistance for their safety management in Arctic Ocean. A measurement study of sea ice properties was conducted during July to August of 2011 with the Korean icebreaking research vessel "Araon" around Chukchi Borderland. The sea ice concentration appears to be rapidly decreasing during this cruise. Ice condition seems to be thick second-year ice and multi-year ice and then, a lot of melt ponds were observed in the surface of ice floe. Calculated flexural strength of sea ice was about 250~550kPa, ice thickness was roughly 1.3~3.0m. In this research we performed field experiment to measure ice temperature along the depth, thickness, density, salinity, brine volume ratio and crystal structure. Apparent conductivities derived with the electromagnetic induction instrument were compared to drill hole measurement results and accuracy of sea ice thickness estimation formula was discussed.