Observations of preferential summer melt of Arctic sea-ice ridge keels from repeated multibeam sonar surveys

Abstract Sea-ice ridges constitute a large fraction of the total Arctic sea-ice area (up to 40 %–50 %); nevertheless, they are the least studied part of the ice pack. Here we investigate sea-ice melt rates using rare, repeated underwater multibeam sonar surveys that cover a period of 1 month during the advanced stage of sea-ice melt. Bottom melt increases with ice draft for first- and second-year level ice and a first-year ice ridge, with an average of 0.46, 0.55, and 0.95 m of total snow and ice melt in the observation period, respectively. On average, the studied ridge had a 4.6 m keel bottom draft, was 42 m wide, and had 4 % macroporosity. While bottom melt rates of ridge keel were 3.8 times higher than first-year level ice, surface melt rates were almost identical but responsible for 40 % of ridge draft decrease. Average cross-sectional keel melt ranged from 0.2 to 2.6 m, with a maximum point ice loss of 6 m, showcasing its large spatial variability. We attribute 57 % of the ridge total (surface and bottom) melt variability to keel draft (36 %), slope (32 %), and width (27 %), with higher melt for ridges with a larger draft, a steeper slope, and a smaller width. The melt rate of the ridge keel flanks was proportional to the draft, with increased keel melt within 10 m of its bottom corners and the melt rates between these corners comparable to the melt rates of level ice.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Observations of preferential summer melt of Arctic sea-ice ridge keels from repeated multibeam sonar surveys ; volume:17 ; number:11 ; year:2023 ; pages:4873-4887 ; extent:15 ; The Cryosphere ; 17, Heft 11 (2023), 4873-4887 (gesamt 15)

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Urheber: Salganik, Evgenii ; Lange, Benjamin A. ; Katlein, Christian ; Matero, Ilkka ; Anhaus, Philipp ; Muilwijk, Morven ; Høyland, Knut V. ; Granskog, Mats A.

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.5194/tc-17-4873-2023
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023112303210071059954
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 15.08.2025, 07:26 MESZ