Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
The Role of Sea Ice Mechanics and Deformation in Arctic Climate Change
William D. Hibler III1, Erland M. Schulson2
1International Arctic Research Center/Frontier, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA, Phone 907-474-7254, billh@iarc.uaf.edu
2Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, 8000 Cummings Hall, Hanover, NH, 03755, USA, Phone 603-646-2888, Fax 603-646-3856, erland.schulson@dartmouth.edu
Spatial and temporal variations in sea ice deformation are largely controlled by ice mechanics. In turn, ice mechanics and associated formation of leads and ridges controls the thickness distribution and, hence, the ice mass balance, the heat flux between the ocean and the atmosphere, and the oceanic salt flux.
As a consequence, ice mechanics provides an important physical feedback between the ice thickness distribution and environmental change. This poster will discuss a variety of feedbacks, ranging from inertial and tidal variability in sea ice deformation to the role of ice dynamics in climate warming.In addition, it will show evidence from the field and from the laboratory of scale-independent failure processes which are important to high-resolution atmosphere-ice-ocean modeling.
Abstract Categories: Physical Feedbacks
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