Seasonal development of the sea-ice thickness distribution in East Antartica: Measurements from upward-looking sonar

Abstract

Upward-looking sonar (ULS) data are presented from a prototype instrument deployed at 63°18′ S, 107° 49′ E in 1994. These data show the seasonal evolution of the ice-draft distribution from May when predominantly thin ice is present, through October when substantially thicker ice has been formed by deformation. The mean ice draft reaches a maximum in August at 1.21 m, the same month in which ship-based observations from the same region show a peak in ice thickness. The observed distribution from ULS data is only for drafts > 0.3 m due to data losses caused by the low acoustic reflectivity of actively forming ice. The spring distributions show very little development of drafts > 3.0 m, and it is hypothesized that this is due to the cyclical nature of deformation in the East Antarctic pack-ice zone, and that periods of sustained pressure required to form very thick ice are uncommon in this region.