A numerical study of mesoscale ocean eddy interaction with a marginal ice zone

Abstract

Observations made during the marginal ice zone experiment (MIZEX) program indicated the presence of mesoscale eddies in a marginal ice edge ocean front in the East Greenland Current. The eddies range in scale from 5 to 80 km. Physical mechanisms including barotropic and baroclinic instability may be responsible for their presence. Although the evolution of isolated eddies at low latitudes has been the focus of many studies, the effect of ice cover on eddy evolution and vice versa has had less attention. Here, an examination of the interaction of isolated mesoscale ocean eddies with a marginal ice zone is presented. Results are obtained with a two‐layer nonlinear primitive equation ocean model and a coupled free‐drift ice model. In the absence of winds, the ice equilibrates rapidly to the ocean eddy velocity, resulting in radial ice motion. The ocean sea surface slope is found to provide an important force in the ice momentum balance in no‐wind simulations. With along ice edge 10 m/s winds, the ice responds largely to the wind and to a lesser extent to the ocean eddy. Under ice the ocean eddy can be rapidly eroded by wind‐driven ice motion. Cyclones (anticyclones) are rapidly destroyed by along ice edge winds with ice on the left (right).