A Field Study of the Physical Properties, Response to Swell, and Subsequent Fracture of a Single Ice Floe in the Winter Bering Sea

摘要

Surface strain and vertical heave response experiments were conducted for a single floe within the marginal ice zone of the winter Bering Sea. The strain was measured using an array of three strainmeters placed in a 120 deg rosette configuration, and the heave was computed from simultaneous records of vertical acceleration on the floe and in the water around the floe. Physical properties studies and underwater traverses by divers were also carried out for the floe. The data are presented and interpreted in the light of the subsequent floe fracture; the mean fracture strain amplitude epsilon is found to lie between 44 and 85 micro-strain. A discussion of the directionality of the wave energy during the experiment is also given. (Author)