FY 1981

Remote sensing analysis of ice growth and distribution in the Eastern Bering Sea

McNutt, S.L.

Chapter 10 in Eastern Bering Sea Shelf: Oceanography and Resources, D.W. Hood and J.A. Calder (eds.), Vol. 1, USDOC/NOAA/OMPA, 141–165 (1981)

Ice thickness distribution and ice types for the eastern Bering Sea are inferred from satellite imagery and available aircraft data. These have been combined with analyses of ice bridging and flow trajectories to estimate movement and generation of ice within the pack. The location of the ice edge has been plotted for different dates using satellite imagery and ice analysis charts. The position of the edge and the variability of the geographic location of the ice types and thicknesses supports a theory of ice generation according to which ice forms along the leeward side of east-west-trending coasts, is advected to the south-southwest within the pack, is broken into floes near the ice edge by the effects of wave propagation, and melts at the edge when the thermodynamic limits of its stability are reached.