Wave-ice interaction and its relevance to the formation processes of floe size distribution in the marginal ice zone

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24510001
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Environmental dynamic analysis
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: TOYOTA Takenobu 北海道大学, 低温科学研究所, 助教 (80312411)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): MITSUDERA Humio 北海道大学, 低温科学研究所, 教授 (20360943)
• Research Collaborator: MEYLAN Mike ニューキャッスル大学(豪), 理学部, 講師 ; KOHOUT Alison 水文大気科学国立研究所(NZ), 研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 極地 / 海氷 / 波ー海氷相互作用 / 氷盤の大きさ分布 / 気候変動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To improve the understanding of wave-ice interaction and subsequent effects on floe size distribution (FSD) in the marginal ice zone (MIZ), the concurrent measurement of wave activity and floe size distribution was conducted off East Antarctica in late winter 2012. While logistic reasons limited helicopter operation to two interior ice regions, the floe size distribution in the interior region was determined using a combination of heli-photos and MODIS satellite visible images. Our analysis shows: 1) the interior region already possesses two kinds of floe size distributions for both d < 100 m and d > 1 km scales, which exist in the MIZ, however, for a small regime an expected regime shift is absent; 2) the significantly high waves can penetrate into the interior region and affect the FSD there. These results indicate that one role of wave-ice interaction in MIZ is to modulate the floe size distribution that already exists in the interior region, rather than directly create it.

Free Research Field

海氷科学