Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone

Abstract Interactions between surface waves and sea ice are thought to be an important, but poorly understood, physical process in the atmosphere‐ice‐ocean system. In this work, airborne scanning lidar was used to observe ocean waves propagating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). These represent the...

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Main Authors: Peter Sutherland, Jean‐Claude Gascard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-05-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067713
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author Peter Sutherland
Jean‐Claude Gascard
author_facet Peter Sutherland
Jean‐Claude Gascard
author_sort Peter Sutherland
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Interactions between surface waves and sea ice are thought to be an important, but poorly understood, physical process in the atmosphere‐ice‐ocean system. In this work, airborne scanning lidar was used to observe ocean waves propagating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). These represent the first direct spatial measurements of the surface wavefield in the polar MIZ. Data were compared against two attenuation models, one based on viscous dissipation and one based on scattering. Both models were capable of reproducing the measured wave energy. The observed wavenumber dependence of attenuation was found to be consistent with viscous processes, while the spectral spreading of higher wavenumbers suggested a scattering mechanism. Both models reproduced a change in peak direction due to preferential directional filtering. Floe sizes were recorded using colocated visible imagery, and their distribution was found to be consistent with ice breakup by the wavefield.
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publishDate 2016-05-01
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-3be5f33b7e6841df8a1b7f1504da1f5e2025-08-20T03:10:24ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-05-0143105151515910.1002/2016GL067713Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zonePeter Sutherland0Jean‐Claude Gascard1Laboratoire d'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale L'Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer Plouzané FranceLaboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris FranceAbstract Interactions between surface waves and sea ice are thought to be an important, but poorly understood, physical process in the atmosphere‐ice‐ocean system. In this work, airborne scanning lidar was used to observe ocean waves propagating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). These represent the first direct spatial measurements of the surface wavefield in the polar MIZ. Data were compared against two attenuation models, one based on viscous dissipation and one based on scattering. Both models were capable of reproducing the measured wave energy. The observed wavenumber dependence of attenuation was found to be consistent with viscous processes, while the spectral spreading of higher wavenumbers suggested a scattering mechanism. Both models reproduced a change in peak direction due to preferential directional filtering. Floe sizes were recorded using colocated visible imagery, and their distribution was found to be consistent with ice breakup by the wavefield.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067713wavessea icemarginal ice zoneice floescanning lidarattenuation
spellingShingle Peter Sutherland
Jean‐Claude Gascard
Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
Geophysical Research Letters
waves
sea ice
marginal ice zone
ice floe
scanning lidar
attenuation
title Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
title_full Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
title_fullStr Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
title_full_unstemmed Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
title_short Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
title_sort airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
topic waves
sea ice
marginal ice zone
ice floe
scanning lidar
attenuation
url https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL067713
work_keys_str_mv AT petersutherland airborneremotesensingofoceanwavedirectionalwavenumberspectrainthemarginalicezone
AT jeanclaudegascard airborneremotesensingofoceanwavedirectionalwavenumberspectrainthemarginalicezone