A new parameterization of surface drag in the marginal sea ice zone

Abstract

A parameterization of subgrid scale surface fluxes over the marginal sea ice zone which has been used earlier in several studies is modified and applied to a nonhydrostatic mesoscale model. The new scheme accounts for the form drag of ice floes and is combined with a so-called flux averaging method for the determination of surface fluxes over inhomogeneous terrain. Individual fluxes over ice and water are calculated as a function of the blending height. It is shown by comparison with observations that the drag coefficients calculated with the new parameterization agree well with data. The original scheme strongly over estimates the form drag effect. An improvement is mainly obtained by an inclusion of stratification and by use of a more adequate coefficient of resistance for individual ice floes. The mesoscale model is applied to office flows over the polar marginal sea ice zone. The model results show that under certain meteorological conditions the form drag can have a strong influence on the near-surface wind velocity and on the turbulent fluxes of momentum. Four case studies are carried out. The maximum influence of form drag occurs in the case with strong unstable stratification and with wind oblique to the ice edge. Under these conditions the wind stress on sea ice is modified by at least 100% for ice concentrations less than 50% if form drag is taken into account.