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Relationship between sea‐ice motion and geostrophic wind in the northern hemisphere
Author(s) -
Kimura Noriaki,
Wakatsuchi Masaaki
Publication year - 2000
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 - 10.1029/2000gl011495
Subject(s) - sea ice , geostrophic wind , geology , arctic ice pack , drift ice , climatology , sea ice thickness , cryosphere , sea ice concentration , northern hemisphere , wind speed , arctic , southern hemisphere , geostrophic current , antarctic sea ice , atmospheric sciences , oceanography
This paper presents maps showing the relationship between sea‐ice motion derived from Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) imagery and the geostrophic wind in the Northern Hemisphere for seven winters (1991/92–1997/98). The sea‐ice motion is highly correlated with the geostrophic wind except for some coastal regions. Overall the direction of the ice motion is nearly parallel to the wind. An obvious contrast between seasonal ice zones and the interior of the Arctic is observed in the speed reduction factor (ratio of ice speed to wind speed), which is probably caused by the spatial variation of internal ice stress. Surface ocean currents are also derived by subtracting the wind effect from the ice motion.