Monitoring of the Ice free Arctic

Abstract

The interaction of water waves with sea ice has various implications involving interdisciplinary fields of research. Its range of influence extends from heat fluxes and water mixing at the ocean surface to land erosion, etc.. This leads to the issue of potential feedback processes between waves and ice, e.g. the break-up of ice by waves leads to a larger water/air interface. This, in turn, may be connected with enhanced absorption of solar radiation and less ice formation. All this is of particular relevance in the context of a changing wave and ice climate. Here we present measurements from satellite data showing the interaction of waves and sea ice in the marginal ice zone as compared to models. These results are compared to current state-of-the-art implementation of spectral wave prediction models. Overall, good agreement is observed, and limitations of the remote sensing algorithm and the wave model are highlighted. The need for wide-spread, up-to-date sea state observations in the emerging ice-free Arctic will further increase as the region will open up to marine operations.