Wave and coastal sea ice interaction along the Arctic coast
- 1Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- 2University of Reading, Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, Department of Meteorology, Reading, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (lucia.hosekova@me.com)
- 3Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- 4Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- 5Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS, USA
- 6Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- 7Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Rapid decline in seasonal sea ice has been linked to increased surface wave activity and shoreline erosion in the coastal Arctic. This trend poses a risk to communities vulnerable to flooding and storm surges. Here we focus on quantifying the relationship between coastal erosion, increasing wave activity and the role of sea ice in protecting the coast.
In November 2019, we observed a three day wave event in the Chukchi Sea along the coastal barrier system near Icy Cape, Alaska. The wave event was sampled using multiple drifting SWIFT (Surface Wave Instrument Float with Tracking) buoys, a cross-shore mooring array, and ship-based CTD casts. This provided datasets for different ice types in both Eulerian and Lagrangian reference frames. Pancake and frazil sea ice near the coast attenuated the incident wave field, such that the significant wave height reduced from 3 to 1.5 m over less than 5 kilometers. The wave data combined with in-situ ice observations and satellite imagery are used to calculate spectral attenuation of wave energy segregated by ice type. Furthermore, observed temperature, mean circulation and surface heat fluxes are used to address the evolution of sea ice throughout the event.
Supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
How to cite: Hosekova, L., Malila, M., Thomson, J., Kumar, N., Rogers, E. W., Roach, L., and Eidam, E.: Wave and coastal sea ice interaction along the Arctic coast, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-6089, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6089, 2020
