Abstract:

During August 1999, we investigated sea ice characteristics; its distribution, surface feature, thickness, ice floe movement, and the temperature field around inter-borders of air/ice/seawater in the Chukchi Sea. Thirteen ice cores were drilled at 11 floe stations in the area of 72°24′-77°18′N, 153°34′- 163°28′W and the ice core structure was observed. From field observation, three melting processes of ice were observed; surface layer melting, surface and bottom layers melting, and all of ice melting. The observation of temperature fields around sea ice floes showed that the bottom melting under the ice floes were important process. As ice floes and open water areas were alternately distributed in summer Arctic Ocean; the water under ice was colder than the open water by 0.4-2.8℃. The sun radiation heated seawater in open sea areas so that the warmer water went to the bottom when the ice floes move to those areas. This causes ice melting to start at the bottom of the ice floes. This process can balance effectively the temperature fluctuating in the sea in summer. From the crystalline structure of sea ice observed from the cores, it was concluded that the ice was composed of ice crystals and brine-ice films. During the sea ice melting, the brine-ice films between ice crystals melted firstly; then the ice crystals were encircled by brine films; the sea ice became the mixture of ice and liquid brine. At the end of melting, the ice crystals would be separated each other, the bond between ice crystals weakens and this leads to the collapse of the ice sheet.

Key words: Arctic Ocean, sea ice, climate