Phys.org September 24, 2024
Researchers in Australia used a theoretical model to study water waves propagating into and through a region containing thin floating ice, for ice covers transitioning from consolidated (large floe sizes) to fully broken (small floe sizes). The degree of breaking was simulated by a mean floe length. The model predicted deterministic limits for consolidated and fully broken ice covers where the wave fields do not depend on the realization of the ice cover for a given mean floe length. The consolidated ice limit was consistent with classic flexural-gravity wave theory, and the fully broken limit was well-modelled by Bloch waves. Multiple wave scattering was a dominant process. They quantified the effects of the ice cover on the wave field, an attenuation rate and a transferred amplitude. The model predicted that as the ice cover breaks up, the wavelength and amplitude drop decrease and the attenuation rate increases. According to the researchers their results provide an interpretation of field observations… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Drone image of sea ice being broken up by waves… Credit: Élie Dumas-Lefebvre and Dany Dumont. Credit: ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, A.48020230862. 12 September 2024
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