Climatic change of sea ice mean thickness in the Arctic basin

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:535148

Nagurny, A P ^[1]

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1. Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)

A method for automatically monitoring sea ice thickness by measuring ice-plate vibration is proposed. Two energy maximums are clearly manifested in the spectrum of ice cover vibrations, corresponding to the resonant waves (the equality of ice eigen frequency as a plate and upper water layer without ice cover) and to the waves at the minimum of the dispersion curve of the ice-water system. The free vibrations of the resonant waves have low amplitudes and can be adequately described by linear theory of elastic gravity wave propagation. Data are presented for sea ice thickness determined by measuring elastic-gravity waves at points in the Arctic basin for the years 1970 through 1992. During this period, a linear decrease in sea ice thickness was observed. The thickness decreased by 12-14 centimeters, or 3 to 4% of average thickenss, overall. Taking into account the significant scattering of data, a trend of climatic warming in the atmosphere-Arctic Ocean system is indicated. 11 refs., 2 figs.

• OSTI ID: 535148
• Report Number(s): CONF-960146--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ARCTIC OCEAN
CLIMATIC CHANGE
GRAVITY WAVES
ICEBERGS
THICKNESS