Waves and ice

Waves occur when wind creates ripples on the sea surface, and when wind persists, the ripples will grow into waves. Waves will not be able to occur where there is sea ice. Where the sea ice meets open water, waves will cause the ice to break up, and a zone of small and large ice floes is created between open water and dense ice. This is called the marginal ice zone. Waves in this zone can also spread into ice-covered areas.

It is in the marginal ice zone that most of the sea ice freezes or melts. In this zone there is bustling animal life, and the area in the ice where there is the greatest boat traffic and other human activity. We use remote sensing data and sea-ice and wave models we have developed to study how waves and ice interact. Furthermore, we look at the significance of this interaction for the bustling animal life under, on and above the ice, and for the climate. To increase the understanding of this special area, a method has been developed which observes waves and sea ice at the same time. It is based on the self-developed sea-ice model “neXtSIM”, which coupled with a wave model recreates the complicated interaction between waves and sea ice.

With the decreasing sea-ice cover, it is expected that waves in the marginal ice zone will occur more frequently and become larger. This in turn affects how the ice breaks up. Warmer water from the depths will rise and further reduce the ice cover. We do research to understand the changes and their impact on the Arctic environment and develop alerts that have information on both waves and sea ice at the same time. This will provide more precise warnings about sea ice in the marginal ice zone, as well as how waves contribute to breaking up the sea ice.

For more information, contact research leader Einar Ólason.

News

Products and services

Sea-ice modelsSea ice data is of great importance for safe navigation in Arctic regions. At the Nansen Center, two tools have been developed which are used to predict changes in the sea ice in the near future for the North Atlantic and the Arctic; the data assimilation system TOPAZ and the sea-ice model neXtSIM.
Sea-ice forecastsThe sea ice in the Arctic Ocean affects both wildlife and human activities in the region. We have developed two model tools that produce forecasts for the Arctic and North Atlantic, TOPAZ and neXtSIM-F.
Forecasting ocean conditionsOcean conditions are measured through the acquisition of physical data on ocean currents, temperature, salinity, sea surface height, and sea-ice conditions. Such data is important for both research and other sectors, such as knowledge-based and sustainable ocean management. The data must be processed before it can be converted into correct information.

Projects

Client: Schmidt Futures
Project owner: French National Centre for Scientific Research
Project leader at the Nansen Center: Einar Ólason