Author(s): Vernon A. Squire

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: No Keywords

Abstract: I discuss the progression, over the last 20 years, of the topic of how ocean waves communicate with sea ice, with attention focused on advances that characterize sea ice more faithfully as opposed to those that oversimplify interactions with an ersatz that is a poor imitation of reality. A succession of authors have confronted and solved by various means the demanding applied mathematics associated with ocean waves: (a) entering a vast sea ice plate; (b) travelling between plates of different thickness, either adjoining or separated by a (possibly refrozen) lead; (c) impinging on a pressure ridge; (d) affecting a single ice floe with arbitrarily specified physical and material properties, shape, thickness and draught; and (e) many such features or mixtures thereof. These developments, while targeted on specific sea ice situations, are equally applicable to the general topic of hydroelasticity and, in particular, to the interaction of waves with very large floating structures such as floating airports and mobile offshore bases. A novel device for incorporating 3D ocean wave scattering within a (coupled) oceanic global circulation model is also described, which assimilates concentration, mean floe diameter and thickness, and parameterizes natural energy dissipation across each grid cell consentient with the overarching model’s architecture.

DOI:

Year: 2010