Wave propagation in the marginal ice zone: Model predictions and comparisons with buoy and synthetic aperture radar data

Abstract

In this paper the ocean wave dispersion relation and viscous attenuation by a sea ice cover are studied for waves propagating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). The derivation of the dispersion relation and the viscous attenuation by an ice sheet are discussed for waves under flexure and pack compression. In the MIZ, the flexure effect is important for short waves. For a fixed wave period the changes in wavelength and group velocity as a function of ice thickness are significant. In turn, the exponential wave attenuation rate shows a rollover at short wave periods, whereby the rapid increase in wave attenuation rate with decreasing wave period slows down or even turns into a decrease. The Labrador Ice Margin Experiment (LIMEX), conducted on the MIZ off the east coast of Newfoundland, Canada, in March 1987, provides us with aircraft synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, wave buoy, and ice property data. On the basis of the wave number spectrum from the SAR data and the concurrent wave frequency spectrum from the ocean buoy data and accelerometer data on the ice during LIMEX '87, the dispersion relation has been estimated and compared with a model. Wave energy attenuation rates are estimated from SAR data and the ice motion package data which were deployed at the ice edge and into the ice pack, and compared with the model. The model‐data comparisons are reasonably good for the ice conditions observed during LIMEX '87. Some previously reported data of wave attenuation in the MIZ are revisited for model comparison.