Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone
Abstract Ocean heat exchanges at the marginal ice zone (MIZ) play an important role in melting sea ice. Mixed‐layer eddies transport heat and ice floes across the MIZ, facilitating the pack's access to warm waters. This study explores these frontal dynamics using disk‐shaped floes coupled to an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105656 |
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| author | Mukund Gupta Emma Gürcan Andrew F. Thompson |
| author_facet | Mukund Gupta Emma Gürcan Andrew F. Thompson |
| author_sort | Mukund Gupta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Ocean heat exchanges at the marginal ice zone (MIZ) play an important role in melting sea ice. Mixed‐layer eddies transport heat and ice floes across the MIZ, facilitating the pack's access to warm waters. This study explores these frontal dynamics using disk‐shaped floes coupled to an upper‐ocean model simulating the sea ice edge. Numerical experiments reveal that small floes respond more strongly to fine‐scale ocean currents, which favors higher dispersion rates and weakens sea ice drag onto the underlying ocean. Floes with radii smaller than resolved turbulent filaments (∼2–4 km) result in a wider and more energetic MIZ, by a factor of 70% each, compared to larger floes. We hypothesize that this floe size dependency may affect sea ice break‐up by controlling oceanic energy propagation into the MIZ and modulate the sea ice pack's melt rate by regulating lateral heat transport toward the sea ice cover. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ca7d782d4f2c45bd983ef86eb3a1cb5c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-ca7d782d4f2c45bd983ef86eb3a1cb5c2025-08-20T02:11:09ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-01-01512n/an/a10.1029/2023GL105656Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice ZoneMukund Gupta0Emma Gürcan1Andrew F. Thompson2California Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USACalifornia Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USACalifornia Institute of Technology Pasadena CA USAAbstract Ocean heat exchanges at the marginal ice zone (MIZ) play an important role in melting sea ice. Mixed‐layer eddies transport heat and ice floes across the MIZ, facilitating the pack's access to warm waters. This study explores these frontal dynamics using disk‐shaped floes coupled to an upper‐ocean model simulating the sea ice edge. Numerical experiments reveal that small floes respond more strongly to fine‐scale ocean currents, which favors higher dispersion rates and weakens sea ice drag onto the underlying ocean. Floes with radii smaller than resolved turbulent filaments (∼2–4 km) result in a wider and more energetic MIZ, by a factor of 70% each, compared to larger floes. We hypothesize that this floe size dependency may affect sea ice break‐up by controlling oceanic energy propagation into the MIZ and modulate the sea ice pack's melt rate by regulating lateral heat transport toward the sea ice cover.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105656sea iceoceanographypolar climateeddiessubmesoscaleheat transport |
| spellingShingle | Mukund Gupta Emma Gürcan Andrew F. Thompson Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone Geophysical Research Letters sea ice oceanography polar climate eddies submesoscale heat transport |
| title | Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone |
| title_full | Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone |
| title_fullStr | Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone |
| title_full_unstemmed | Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone |
| title_short | Eddy‐Induced Dispersion of Sea Ice Floes at the Marginal Ice Zone |
| title_sort | eddy induced dispersion of sea ice floes at the marginal ice zone |
| topic | sea ice oceanography polar climate eddies submesoscale heat transport |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105656 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mukundgupta eddyinduceddispersionofseaicefloesatthemarginalicezone AT emmagurcan eddyinduceddispersionofseaicefloesatthemarginalicezone AT andrewfthompson eddyinduceddispersionofseaicefloesatthemarginalicezone |