ICE GROWTH STUDIES IN DULUTH-SUPERIOR HARBOR 1974-75

This study concerns the investigation of the ice growth and heat budget in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. The Harbor, located at the extreme western end of Lake Superior, is one of the major shipping ports on the Great Lakes. It is ice bound from mid December to mid April, causing cessation of interlake shipping in the winter months. The Lake ice does not pose a severe navigational problem until ice packing occurs due to prolonged easterly winds in the early spring. Initial investigations on the feasibility of winter shipping in Duluth resulted in installation of an experimental bubbler system which was devised to keep the channels open in the early winter. However, the physical principles governing the ice growth in the Harbor are complex and not well understood. Problems arising in ice growth forecasting, design and construction of ice retarding methods, and evaluation of the environmental implications of winter shipping require a detailed investigation on the physical processes and the heat budget for the entire Harbor.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

  Minneapolis, MN  United States  55455

  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

  Great Lake Environmental Research Laboratory
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States 
• Authors:
  • Clapper, RTJ
  • Smith, D
  • Stortz, K
  • Sydor, M
• Publication Date: 1975-9

Media Info

• Pagination: 70 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cold weather; Deicing; Flow; Ice; Ice formations; Ice navigation; Lake ice; Operations; Pack ice; Ports; Streamflow; Tables (Data); Thickness; Velocity measurement; Water; Water traffic; Weather forecasting; Winter
• Candidate Terms: Ice forecasting
• Geographic Terms: Great Lakes; Lake Superior
• Old TRIS Terms: Heat budget
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00168836
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NOAA-77082522 Final Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: NOAA-04-5-022-13
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 27 1978 12:00AM