Observing the yield curve of compacted pack ice

Abstract

A method for observing the yield curve of compacted pack ice is developed based on the characteristic analysis of the stress field within the pack ice. The analysis shows that the slope of the yield curve is associated with the angle between intersecting linear kinematic features; thus by measuring the intersection angles we can inversely estimate the yield curve. Applying this method to the observed angles generates a curved diamond yield curve, which possesses almost all the advantages identified by the other methods. However, due to the limited data available, more observations are favored to refine this yield curve. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.