Fractal properties of Arctic sea ice floe fragmentation processes

Abstract

Seasonal evolution of Arctic sea ice floe is caused by various fragmentation and melt processes. Those include melt fragmentation in summer due to weaker part of floe by melt ponds, legacy re-frozen leads or cracks, as well as mechanical breakup in spring due to ice deformation forcing. Understanding these fragmentation processes is important not only to evaluate recent Arctic sea ice decline, but also to improve climate models for the Arctic. The objective of this study is to investigate those fragmentation processes at individual floe scales, with hypothesis that fractal properties may differ between melt fragmentation and mechanical breakup. With that in mind, we collected the “floe-scale” data set of 1-m MEDEA images that contain floe-scale imagery before and after fragmentation, and calculated the floe size, perimeter and fractal properties at the floe scale. In this presentation, we will share preliminary results of those analysis, including the role of melt ponds and legacy refrozen leads or cracks in melt fragmentation and difference in fractal properties between melt fragmentation and mechanical breakup.