SIDEx Observations of Sea Ice Stress-Strain-Fracture Fields
Abstract
The Sea Ice Dynamics Experiment (SIDEx) seeks to better understand sea ice mechanical behavior over relatively short (<week) timescales and high resolution (<km) spatial scales. The SIDEx program hypothesis is that heterogeneity in ice strength and floe geometry control far field stress propagation through the ice pack, creating stress concentrations that govern timing and location of ice failure. A scale gap in prior observations of sea ice deformation limits our ability to test this hypothesis and to understand the modes of failure. Few observations of ice deformation exist at m-km scales; scales larger than laboratory studies and smaller than buoy or remote sensing studies. SIDEx has employed a range of new technologies to fill this gap, collecting a fully integrated set of stress, strain, and fracture observations in sea ice. Observations were collected in landfast ice at Utqiagvik (targeting thermal stresses), at MOSAiC, and at a 2021 camp in the Beaufort Sea. The integrated dataset captures (1) ice stress, (2) intra-floe elastic or creep strains, (3) the location and size of thermal and mechanical fractures, (4) inter-floe dynamic strains (e.g. floe-floe shear), and (5) the morphology of the ice over 1-2km2 domains. Here we present an overview of this new datasets scope and draw early conclusions about the role of ice strength heterogeneity and floe geometry in driving emergent failure properties.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFM.C52C..03P