Ocean wave speed in the Antarctic marginal ice zone

Abstract

The propagation of ocean waves in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) is investigated with the aim of determining whether the loading and scattering of waves by ice floes is significant. Measurements made using instrumented ice floes in the MIZ north of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, during June 1998 are used to determine the frequency-wave-length relationship for propagating ocean waves in that region. This measured-dispersion equation is related to the effective large-scale properties of the MIZ that occur in models for wave propagation and scattering. We present the measured wave speeds to enable estimation of the parameters in these models.