Author(s): W. D. Hibler; S. Ackley; W. F. Weeks; A. Kovacs
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Abstract: A spectral study of the snow and ice topography on a multi-year ice floe has shown that the snow cover, although attenuating the roughness amplitude of the ice surface, does not cover it completely. In general, the snow surface variance is lower by a factor of 1/3 to 1/4 as compared to the ice surface variance. The correlation) between snow and ice surface roughness is highly significant for long wavelengths (>8 m), but fails to be significant for short wavelengths (< 4m). These results agree with what might be expected intuitively in that long wavelength variations are not masked appreciably while short wavelength variations are well hidden. Although the ice sheet as a whole is in free-floating, isostatic equilibrium, pronounced local deviations from isostatic equilibrium are common. The trend is for ice drafts to deviate more than expected from isostasy for thin ice and less than expected for thick ice. Estimates are also made of the number of ice thickness measurements required to obtain the mean thickness of the multiyear floe to any specified accuracy.
Year: 1972