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Airborne remote sensing of ocean wave directional wavenumber spectra in the marginal ice zone
Author(s) -
Sutherland Peter,
Gascard JeanClaude
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl067713
Subject(s) - wavenumber , attenuation , geology , breakup , sea ice , dissipation , polar , geophysics , scattering , breaking wave , wind wave , surface wave , atmosphere (unit) , wave propagation , atmospheric sciences , remote sensing , optics , meteorology , physics , mechanics , climatology , oceanography , thermodynamics , astronomy
Interactions between surface waves and sea ice are thought to be an important, but poorly understood, physical process in the atmosphere‐ice‐ocean system. In this work, airborne scanning lidar was used to observe ocean waves propagating into the marginal ice zone (MIZ). These represent the first direct spatial measurements of the surface wavefield in the polar MIZ. Data were compared against two attenuation models, one based on viscous dissipation and one based on scattering. Both models were capable of reproducing the measured wave energy. The observed wavenumber dependence of attenuation was found to be consistent with viscous processes, while the spectral spreading of higher wavenumbers suggested a scattering mechanism. Both models reproduced a change in peak direction due to preferential directional filtering. Floe sizes were recorded using colocated visible imagery, and their distribution was found to be consistent with ice breakup by the wavefield.