A fresh look at how ocean waves and sea ice interact

• Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences Vol. 376; no. 2129; p. 20170342
• Main Author: Squire, Vernon A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society Publishing 28-09-2018
• Subjects: Attenuation; Ocean Waves; Parametrization; Power Law Fluid; Sea Ice; attenuation; parametrization; ocean waves; sea ice; power law fluid
• ISSN: 1364-503X; 1471-2962
• DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0342

Because of their capacity to alter floe size distribution and concentration and consequently to influence atmosphere-ocean fluxes, there is a compelling justification and demand to include waves in ice/ocean models and earth system models. Similarly, global wave forecasting models like WAVEWATCH III® need better parametrizations to capture the effects of a sea ice cover such as the marginal ice zone on incoming wave energy. Most parametrizations of wave propagation in sea ice assume without question that the frequency-dependent attenuation which is observed to occur with distance x travelled is exponential, i.e. A = A0 e−αx. This is the solution of the simple first-order linear ordinary differential equation dA/dx = − αA, which follows from an Airy wave mode ansatz . Yet, in point of fact, it now appears that exponential decay may not be observed consistently and a more general equation of the type dA/dx = − αAn is proposed to allow for a broader range of attenuation behaviours should this be necessary to fit data.
This article is part of the theme issue 'Modelling of sea-ice phenomena'.