Morphology and Physical Properties of Old Sea Ice in the Fram Strait

The morphological properties of five second- or multi-year sea ice ridges were examined during a scientific cruise in the Fram Strait in September 2010. A cross section drilling using 2 inch augers was carried out in order to study the geometry and macro-porosity of the ridges, whereas temperature and salinity profiles were extracted from ice cores. All ridges were totally consolidated and only a few gaps, typically less than 5 cm, were encountered inside the ridges. The deepest keel was 7 m, whereas the typical keel depth was around 5 m. Salinity profiles were comparable in all the ridges and increased from zero salinity in the sail to a value varying around 3ppt in the bottom part of the keels. The temperature distribution was also similar in all the ridges. In general, the sail was the warmest part with temperatures above -1°C. Further down in the ridge the temperature decreased, until it is established varying around -2°C in the bottom part of most of the ridges. Since ridges were solid all the way through, salinity was lower compare with usual first-year ridges values and ridges were examined in autumn, most probably they are old ridges or on the way to become ones.

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  • English

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  • Accession Number: 01563188
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: POAC11-159
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: May 18 2015 11:00AM