Hydroelastic interactions between water waves and floating freshwater ice

TL;DR

This study investigates how water wave characteristics influence the breakup of floating freshwater ice, revealing that longer period and steeper waves cause more ice breakup and facilitate greater wave propagation through the ice cover.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence on the conditions leading to ice breakup and the feedback mechanism between wave propagation and ice disintegration.

Findings

Longer wave periods and higher steepness cause more ice breakup.

Ice breakup increases wave transmission through the ice cover.

Positive feedback loop between ice breakup and wave propagation exists.

Abstract

Hydroelastic interactions between regular water waves and floating freshwater ice are investigated using laboratory experiments for a range of incident wave periods and steepnesses. It is shown that only incident waves with sufficiently long period and large steepness break up the ice cover, and that the extent of breakup increases with increasing period and steepness. Further, it is shown that an increasing proportion of the incident wave propagates through the ice-covered water as period and steepness increase, indicating the existence of a positive feedback loop between ice breakup and increased wave propagation.