An investigation into the turbulence induced by moving ice floes

TL;DR

This study investigates how colliding ice floes induce turbulence in water, quantifying energy dissipation through direct measurements, and confirms turbulence as a significant energy dissipation mechanism in ice floe interactions.

Contribution

It provides the first direct observational quantification of turbulence and energy dissipation caused by colliding ice floes in a controlled experimental setting.

Findings

TKE spectra exhibit an inertial subrange with a -5/3 slope.

TKE dissipation rate decreases exponentially with depth.

Approximately 60% of input power is dissipated in turbulence.

Abstract

Several phenomena are known to attenuate waves in the marginal ice zone, such as wave scattering due to ice floes, viscous dissipation inside the ice and energy dissipation caused by ice floe interactions. Our aim of this study is to investigate colliding ice floes and to quantify the Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) dissipation in the surrounding water through direct observations. The field work was carried out in Van Mijen Fjord on Svalbard, where an artificial 3x4 m^2 ice floe was sawed out in the 1 m thick ice. Wave motion was simulated by pulling the ice floe back and forth in an oscillatory manner with two electrical winches in a 4x6 m^2 pool. Ice floe motion was measured with a range meter, and the water turbulence was measured with acoustic velocimeters. TKE frequency spectra were found to contain an inertial subrange where energy was cascading at a rate proportional to f^(-5/3). From the spectra estimated at several vertical positions, the TKE dissipation rate was found to decrease exponentially with depth. The total TKE dissipation rate was estimated by assuming that turbulence was induced over an area spanning over the ice floe width and the pool length. The preliminary energy budget suggests that approximately 60% of the input power from the winches was dissipated in turbulence, which experimentally confirms that energy dissipation by induced turbulent water motion is an important mechanism for colliding ice floe fields.