Field investigations of coastal fast ice near the research station Ice Base on the «Cape Baranova», carried out in 2013–2014, made possible to reveal a number of characteristics of the sea ice cover formation. It has been shown that during winter and early spring the sea ice thickness, being formed due to intensive snow drift and caused by that flooding of the ice cover just near the coast of the Bolshevik Island, substantially grows at its upper boundary, that is typical for the Antarctic seas. At the same time, similar process of the ice growth at a relatively short distance from the coast shows all features characteristic for the ice cover in the Arctic seas, and that is well reproduced by the conceptual numerical sea ice model. Thus, the region of the Ice Base «Cape Baranova» represents a natural laboratory for studying the processes of the sea ice formation in both, the Arctic and Antarctic seas under condition of the same atmospheric forcing. Transformation of the fast ice structure during the summer time is described. Results of the investigations has demonstrated that despite the radical changes in the structure thicknesses of the fast ice remained almost unchanged due to the ice growth on the bottom boundary of the ice cover until a destruction of it in August.
Two ice coring transects in the Shokalsky Strait were made in order to analyze a spatialheterogeneity in the structure of fast ice in the area of the research station “Ice base Cape of Baranov”. The first transect was 16 km long made off the shore of Bolshevik Island in a western direction across the Shokalsky Strait. The second transect was made along the eastern shore of the Shokalsky Strait. Structural analysis of the recovered sea ice cores shows that fast ice in the Shokalsky Strait features a complicated multilayer structure formed of congelation ice, congelation-frazil ice, frazil slush, and infiltration formations. Various conditions of ice formation form the ices of various genetic types. In terms of ice thickness, a sequence of layer occurrence and type, all level fast ice of the Shokalsky Strait in the area of the station can be divided into three main groups. The group I, being the most common one, is the ice group formed directly in the strait, approximately outside the 100 m isobath. Its structure comprises three to four layers. The average ice thickness measured in the end of May was 132 cm. A distinctive feature of the ice belonging to (or associated with) this group is the presence of a distinct lamination in the texture pattern for almost all recovered ice cores. The ice of this group also has an increased salinity compared to the ice of other groups, especially in the upper layers.The ice of the group II prevails, mainly in closed bays or gulfs. This group ice forms in dynamically stable conditions. Formation of fast ice in these regions of the study area began some earlier than in other locations, and the thickness of this ice reached 160 cm or more.The ice of the group III is transitional from the group II to the group I. Its distinctive feature is the presence of a thick layer of rafting ice. The main place of its formation is the boundary of separation of fast ice with drifting ice or open water.In the Shokalsky Strait, in the bays and in the coastal regions, there was observed the spatial ordering of the columnar ice crystals. This feature was especially pronounced in level fast ice from the open part of the strait.
The determination of the main physical properties of the fast ice around the research station "Ice base Cape of Baranov" was carried out from May 23 to August 7, 2014. At the beginning of the observations the ice was a system of three main layers reflecting the conditions of fast ice formation. The top 70 cm of the ice was formed under the conditions of dynamic variability. The ice formation to the level of 110 cm was more stable, and the lowerst layer below 110 cm grew without hummocking and thawing. In the second decade of June the ice accretion began on top due to recrystallization on snow and ice boundary. In the third decade of June the accretion process at the ice-snow interface was replaced by surface melting and destruction layer development. These changes are assumed to begin as maximum air temperatures keep above zero. By the second decade of July all the ice core had undergone serious internal changes. In the third decade of July the process of inter-crystalline-binding degradation affected the whole ice core. Citation: Borodkin V.A., Kovalev S.M., Shushlebin A.I. Change of structure and some physical properties of level fast ice during the spring and summer period of 2014 in the vicinity the research station "Ice base Cape Baranov". Problemy Arktiki i Antarktiki.
On the “Transarktika-2019” expedition, works were carried out for determining the physical and mechanical characteristics of frost field of the first-year sea ice and the field of second-year ice. The thickness of the ice cover was determined by contact and non-contact methods, the temperature, salinity and density of ice, the strength of the samples at central bending and uniaxial compression, as well as the local (borehole) strength of ice were measured. Studies have shown that most of the field is an ice formation formed in the process of dynamic metamorphism. At the beginning of the expedition, an ice floe passed through a section of warm surface waters. This led to the disappearance of the openwork layer on the lower boundary of the ice and stopping the growth of ice from below. During the observation period, the average temperature and salinity of the deformed ice increased, while the average density decreased. The values of mechanical characteristics decreased with increasing temperature and brine volume. The average borehole strength were close to the values obtained by the quadratic approximation for ice in the area of the Ice Station “Cape of Baranov”. The physical and mechanical properties of the level ice are generally similar to the properties of ice, composed mainly of fibrous structures. The ratios between the borehole strength and the strength under uniaxial compression of ice samples drilled parallel to the ice surface were 4.5 and 4.7, which corresponds to the literature data. The thickness of the second-year sea ice at the place of work was 166 — 169 cm, the snow height was 27 cm, the raft of the ice surface above the water surface was 15 cm. The average ice temperature was –4.0 °C. Second-year ice can be divided into three parts that differ in their physical properties. The upper part (0 — 10 cm) was formed in the autumn. The second part (10 — 85 cm) is ice that has undergone seasonal thermometamorphic changes. The lower part was formed during the natural growth of ice from below at the current season.
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