Abstract
A thorough understanding of the freshwater ice process received considerable critical attention due to increasing winter recreations and ice engineering. The development of the lake ice process of Chagan Lake was monitored using MODIS and Landsat images over eight consecutive snow seasons from October 2013 to April 2021. We derived the lake ice phenology from an eight-day time series of lake water skin temperature (LWST) provided by MODIS, including freeze-up date, break-up date, and ice cover duration. We discovered a large-scale fracture extending from northwest to southeast that repeatedly appeared on Landsat images since 1986. A novel fractal-based auto-extraction is proposed to extract the length and angle of these fractures. We also carried out a field campaign and an ice ridge was found at the southernmost part of what we observed from the images. Moreover, we explained the fracturing development by thermal changes, wind in lake, and underlying flow. Results show that the lake ice fracture is nearly perpendicular to the dominant wind direction in the cold season, which indicates the crucial role of wind on lake ice fracturing.
Highlights
The freeze–thaw cycle of lake ice is an essential process of the cryosphere and hydrosphere, and serves as a sensitive indicator to climate changes [1,2]
Remote sensing provided a promising tool for exploring the large-scale lake ice fracturing over different lakes, which may have promising applications in ice engineering
Chagan lake froze on November 13 in winter and melted on April 1 in spring, leading to the ice cover duration of 140.44 ± 12 days during these eight years
Summary
The freeze–thaw cycle of lake ice is an essential process of the cryosphere and hydrosphere, and serves as a sensitive indicator to climate changes [1,2]. About 65% of lakes throughout the world experience the seasonal freeze–thaw change during the winter, approximately 2.4 million km2 [3]. The thaw–freeze cycle of lake ice is mainly controlled by thermal exchange, the displacement of water and ice, and water level variations, leading to lake ice fracturing. During different stages of the ice process, the expansion and contracts of lake ice could exert a huge thrust on slope protection because of the bank, which could endanger the human infrastructure along the rivers and lakes. A thorough understanding of the lake ice process has significant implications for the geophysical, engineering, and biological utilization of freshwater ice during the cold season [5,6]
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