Small-scale deformation of an Arctic sea ice floe detected by GPS and satellite imagery

Abstract Small-scale (~100–200 m) deformations of an Arctic sea ice floe were detected from multiple GPS-equipped buoys that were deployed on the same ice floe. Over a nine-month period three deformation events were recorded. At each case the event was of limited duration, each lasting less than a day. The events were highly compressive in nature with the area occupied by the buoy array decreasing by over half of the original area. The strain rate during the deformation, of the order of 10−5 s−1, is about three orders of magnitude larger than previous estimates for brittle fracturing for cracks of about 100 m in length. On the 2 day time scale, the strain rate became too small and none of the deformation events could be detected. This suggests that satellite data with longer time scales may significantly underestimate the amount of intermittent, small-scale brittle failure of total deformation. Taken as a whole, our results show the influence that large-scale wind stress can have on small-scale deformation. However, it is important to note that the impact of large-scale wind stress is also dependent on the properties of sea ice as well as on the spatial and temporal evolution of the underlying forces that influence the fracturing process.

[1]  C. Tang,et al.  Response of sea ice drift to wind forcing on the northeastern Newfoundland Shelf , 1991 .

[2]  Ron Kwok,et al.  Deformation of the Arctic Ocean ice cover after the 2007 record minimum in summer ice extent , 2012 .

[3]  J. Weiss,et al.  Drift, Deformation, and Fracture of Sea Ice: A Perspective Across Scales , 2013 .

[4]  A. Herman,et al.  Variability of sea ice deformation rates in the Arctic and their relationship with basin-scale wind forcing , 2012 .

[5]  Ron Kwok,et al.  Arctic Ocean Sea Ice Thickness and Kinematics: Satellite Retrievals and Modeling , 2010 .

[6]  Kanti V. Mardia,et al.  Statistics of Directional Data , 1972 .

[7]  Dustin Isleifson,et al.  C-Band Polarimetric Backscattering Signatures of Newly Formed Sea Ice During Fall Freeze-Up , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[8]  J. Weiss.  Sea Ice Drift , 2013 .

[9]  Jinlun Zhang,et al.  The impact of an intense summer cyclone on 2012 Arctic sea ice retreat , 2013 .

[10]  J. Richter-Menge,et al.  Characteristics of pack ice stress in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea , 1998 .

[11]  C Bozzi,et al.  Measurements of CP-violating asymmetries in B0-->K(0)(s)pi(0) decays. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[12]  Ron Kwok,et al.  Decline in Arctic sea ice thickness from submarine and ICESat records: 1958–2008 , 2009 .

[13]  Hajo Eicken,et al.  Growth, Structure and Properties of Sea Ice , 2010 .

[14]  P. Lu,et al.  A parameterization of the ice‐ocean drag coefficient , 2011 .

[15]  J. Weiss.  Conclusion and Perspectives: Sea Ice Drift, Deformation and Fracturing in a Changing Arctic , 2013 .

[16]  Andrew Roberts,et al.  Spatial and temporal characterization of sea-ice deformation , 2011, Annals of Glaciology.

[17]  Pierre Rampal,et al.  Positive trend in the mean speed and deformation rate of Arctic sea ice, 1979–2007 , 2009 .

[18]  D. Sodhi.  Crushing failure during ice–structure interaction , 2001 .

[19]  Ron Kwok,et al.  Relating arctic pack ice stress and deformation under winter conditions , 2002 .

[20]  A. Kovacs.  Sea Ice: Part II. Estimating the Full-Scale Tensile, Flexural, and Compressive Strength of First-Year Ice, , 1996 .

[21]  P. Heil,et al.  Subsynoptic scale spatial variability of sea ice deformation in the western Weddell Sea during early summer , 2012 .

[22]  Michael Steele,et al.  The force balance of sea ice in a numerical model , 1997 .

[23]  James L. Davis,et al.  Accuracy of high‐rate GPS for seismology , 2006 .

[24]  J. Comiso,et al.  On the 2012 record low Arctic sea ice cover: Combined impact of preconditioning and an August storm , 2013 .

[25]  J. Halverson,et al.  Modulation of convection in the southwestern Amazon basin by extratropical stationary fronts , 2002 .

[26]  H. Simmons,et al.  Near-Inertial Internal Waves and Sea Ice in the Beaufort Sea* , 2014 .

[27]  L. Tremblay,et al.  Estimating the Sea Ice Compressive Strength from Satellite-Derived Sea Ice Drift and NCEP Reanalysis Data* , 2006 .

[28]  D. Perovich,et al.  Seasonal ice mass-balance buoys: adapting tools to the changing Arctic , 2011, Annals of Glaciology.

[29]  J. Huba,et al.  Simulation of the seeding of equatorial spread F by circular gravity waves , 2013 .

[30]  K. Hunkins.  The oceanic boundary layer and stress beneath a drifting ice floe , 1975 .

[31]  E. Schulson,et al.  Brittle Failure of Ice , 2001 .

[32]  Jinlun Zhang,et al.  Recent changes in the dynamic properties of declining Arctic sea ice: A model study , 2012 .

[33]  J. Overland,et al.  The response of lead patterns in the Beaufort Sea to storm-scale wind forcing , 1993, Annals of Glaciology.

[34]  Ian Simmonds,et al.  The great Arctic cyclone of August 2012 , 2012 .

[35]  D. Barber,et al.  On the scaling laws derived from ice beacon trajectories in the southern Beaufort Sea during the International Polar Year ‐ Circumpolar Flaw Lead study, 2007–2008 , 2011 .

[36]  Pedro Elosegui,et al.  High-precision GPS autonomous platforms for sea ice dynamics and physical oceanography , 2012 .

[37]  Yunhe Zhao,et al.  Large-scale comparison between buoy and SSM/I drift , 2000 .

[38]  Pierre Rampal,et al.  Scaling properties of sea ice deformation from buoy dispersion analysis , 2008 .

[39]  David Marsan,et al.  Scale dependence and localization of the deformation of Arctic sea ice. , 2004, Physical review letters.

[40]  Ted Maksym,et al.  A Novel and Low-Cost Sea Ice Mass Balance Buoy , 2013 .

[41]  F. Qiao,et al.  Observation and simulation of a floe drift near the North Pole , 2012, Ocean Dynamics.

[42]  R. Colony,et al.  Sea ice motion in response to geostrophic winds , 1982 .

[43]  E. Schulson,et al.  Compressive shear faults within arctic sea ice: Fracture on scales large and small , 2004 .