The Effect of the Oceanic Boundary Layer on the Mean Drift of Pack Ice: Application of a Simple Model

Abstract

Smoothed records of ice drift, surface wind and upper ocean currents at four manned stations of the 1975?76 AIDJEX experiment in the central Arctic have been analyzed to provide a statistical relationship between stress at the ice-ocean interface and ice-drift velocity during a 60-day period when the ice, was too weak to support internal forces. Using interfacial stress calculated from a balance with air stress and Coriolis force on the ice column for times longer than the inertial period, logarithmic linear regression of the stress-velocity samples provided the relation τ = 0.010V1.78, where τ is the magnitude of interfacial stress and V the ice speed relative to the geostrophic current in the ocean. This result is statistically indistinguishable from predictions of a numerical model adapted from Businger and Arya (1974) with surface roughness Z0 = 10 cm. Essential features of the model are dynamic scaling by u*, u*2 and u*/f for velocity, kinematic stress and length, with exponential attenuation of a linear dimensionless eddy viscosity, viz., K* = ?k?e?1?, where ? = fz/u* and k is von Kaa's constant. Currents measured 2 m below the ice confirmed the shape of the τ vs V curve and provided an estimate of the angle between surface stress and velocity. The model was used to qualitatively estimate the effect of a pycnocline at 25 m on surface characteristics. The observed behavior when stratification at that level was most pronounced tended toward slightly higher drag at higher speeds, which is qualitatively consistent with the model results.