Author(s): M. Johnston; G. W. Timco
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Measurements of the seasonal deterioration of landfast, first year sea ice were made in McDougall Sound, Eastern Canadian Arctic, from early May to July 2002. Ice temperatures were obtained from a temperature chain that was frozen into the ice. The uppermost 0.40 m of ice responded to short-term fluctuations in air temperature. Ice below a depth of 0.50 m showed longer-term response to the steady increase in air temperature. During the decay process, the winter profile of increasing ice temperature with increasing depth reversed; the upper ice surface was warmer than the bottom ice. A systematic increase in ice temperature was observed in ice at all depths. Warming rates decreased linearly from top to bottom, from 0.26°C/day to 0.03°C/day respectively. An analysis showed that the rate of ice decay could be approximated knowing the air temperature/ice surface temperature, ice thickness, and its depth-dependent warming rate.
Year: 2002