Field measurements of the material properties of sea ice at Chukchi borderland

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted on August 11 and 12 of 2011 with the Korean icebreaking research vessel Araon at Chukchi Borderland to investigate the sea ice properties. In this research the field survey data including snow depth, thickness, freeboard, temperature, density, salinity and crystal structure of ice were investigated. Brine volume and flexural strength of ice were calculated by empirical formula. The average ice thickness was 1.81 m and salinity was 0.23 to 1.78. The sea ice density of upper layer was 0.770 g/cm3, middle layer was 0.896g/cm3, and lower layer was 0.916 g/cm3, and then the calculated average flexural strength of ice was about 360 kPa. The Apparent conductivities derived with the electro-magnetic induction instrument (EMI) were compared to drill hole measurement results. In addition, it is shown that the good relation between in-situ measurement results and estimated data from empirical relation between total thickness and apparent conductivity for the EMI. Copyright ？ 2012 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).