Articles | Volume 11, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2033-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2033-2017
Research article
 | 
04 Sep 2017
Research article |  | 04 Sep 2017

Ice bridges and ridges in the Maxwell-EB sea ice rheology

Véronique Dansereau, Jérôme Weiss, Pierre Saramito, Philippe Lattes, and Edmond Coche

Abstract. This paper presents a first implementation of a new rheological model for sea ice on geophysical scales. This continuum model, called Maxwell elasto-brittle (Maxwell-EB), is based on a Maxwell constitutive law, a progressive damage mechanism that is coupled to both the elastic modulus and apparent viscosity of the ice cover and a Mohr–Coulomb damage criterion that allows for pure (uniaxial and biaxial) tensile strength. The model is tested on the basis of its capability to reproduce the complex mechanical and dynamical behaviour of sea ice drifting through a narrow passage. Idealized as well as realistic simulations of the flow of ice through Nares Strait are presented. These demonstrate that the model reproduces the formation of stable ice bridges as well as the stoppage of the flow, a phenomenon occurring within numerous channels of the Arctic. In agreement with observations, the model captures the propagation of damage along narrow arch-like kinematic features, the discontinuities in the velocity field across these features dividing the ice cover into floes, the strong spatial localization of the thickest, ridged ice, the presence of landfast ice in bays and fjords and the opening of polynyas downstream of the strait. The model represents various dynamical behaviours linked to an overall weakening of the ice cover and to the shorter lifespan of ice bridges, with implications in terms of increased ice export through narrow outflow pathways of the Arctic.

Download
Short summary
A new mechanical framework is used to model the drift of sea ice in a narrow channel between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. It is able to reproduce its main features : curved cracks, ice “bridges” that stop the flow of ice for several months of the year and some thick, strongly localized ridged ice. The simulations suggest that a mechanical weakening of the sea ice cover can shorten the lifespan of ice bridges and result in an increased export of ice through the narrow channels of the Arctic.