Sea ice drift near Bering Strait during 1982

Abstract

Six Argos ice stations were deployed in the northeastern Bering Sea in January and February 1982. Four moved north through Bering Strait and made between one and five passes through the strait before they sank or were crushed by the ice, and two remained in western Norton Sound and Shpanberg Strait. Net winds in the region were directed toward the southwest and were relatively uniform geographically. Net currents were northward, and both mean velocity and mean speed were greater at Bering Strait than at Shpanberg Strait. Norton Sound contributed ice northward through Bering Strait in the mean during winter and spring. There was also a net divergence of ice near Cap Lisburne. A theory for open‐shelf shallow water ice drift is developed that adds terms for bottom drag and stress feedback from the water column. A stress analysis for a station that remained in western Norton Sound and Shpanberg Strait showed that bottom drag did not contribute significantly but that stress feedback from the accelerated shallow water current can be of the same order as the Coriolis force. However, the analysis contained a residual, possibly associated with internal ice stress, coastal setup, or unknown measurement error, which was of roughly the same order as the wind and current stress.