Hello all. I have been watching the melt season now over the the last few seasons with interest. This is my first post so thought apt to start at the stupid questions page
One thing I am interested and wanting to know more right now is the wind/wave/pressure action on the ice. I am getting a good grip on most of the good information here overall. So thanks to all of the committed writers who contribute.
From this season so far the early cyclone in June seemed somewhat to preserve the ice with cloud cover screening it from the sun and also as the ice was more compact wind/wave/pressure action appeared to have less effect than it would of done otherwise if it came a little later in the melt season with a more broken pack. Apart from the fact it did appear to draw in warmer air off the continent. So l am looking at early melt season wind/wave/pressure effects to late melt season wind/wave/pressure effects on the ice during melt season atm.
Whats more of interest to me now is how with a more fragmented pack how wind/wave action interacts with the ice along with low pressure. I am looking for a more scientific viewpoint on
1. Using the Beaufort wind scale and how it would effect fragmented ice as wind speed gets higher?
2. Its effects would they be different on how broken up the ice is? And is there any information out there that shows these effects on ice say at 20% - 80% fragmented like it shows on NSIDC concentration etc?
3. How high up the Beaufort scale would wind need to be, to cause upwelling/mixing to take place and how much low air pressure might relate to this?
If someone could point me in the right direction with some scientific papers PDF's or some qualified comment I would highly appreciate it.
I have posted a small copy of Beaufort for information on Beaufort action on ice free open seas.
0 Calm - 0 - Sea like a mirror.
1-3 Light winds - 19 km/h or less - Small wavelets, ripples formed but do not break: A glassy appearance maintained.
4 Moderate winds - 20 - 29 km/h - Small waves - becoming longer; fairly frequent white horses.
5 Fresh winds - 30 - 39 km/h - Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form; many white horses are formed - a chance of some spray.
6 Strong winds - 40 - 50 km/h - Large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive with probably some spray.
7 Near gale - 51 - 62 km/h - Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along direction of wind.
8 Gale 63 - 75 km/h - Moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests begin to break into spindrift; foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind.
9 Strong gale - 76 - 87 km/h - High waves; dense streaks of foam; crests of waves begin to topple, tumble and roll over; spray may affect visibility.
10 Storm - 88 - 102 km/h - Very high waves with long overhanging crests; the resulting foam in great patches is blown in dense white streaks; the surface of the sea takes on a white appearance; the tumbling of the sea becomes heavy with visibility affected.
11 Violent storm - 103 -117 km/h - Exceptionally high waves; small and medium sized ships occasionally lost from view behind waves; the sea is completely covered with long white patches of foam; the edges of wave crests are blown into froth.
12+ Hurricane - 118 km/h or more 64 knots or more Very rarely experienced. The air is filled with foam and spray. Sea completely white with driving spray; visibility very seriously affected