Form drag on pressure ridges and drag coefficient in the northwestern Weddell Sea, Antarctica, in winter

Morphology of sea ice pressure ridges in the northwestern Weddell Sea in winter

[1] To investigate the morphology and distribution of pressure ridges in the northwestern Weddell Sea, ice surface elevation profiles were measured by a helicopter-borne laser altimeter during Winter Weddell Outflow Study with the German R/V Polarstern in 2006. An optimal cutoff height of 0.62 m, derived from the best fits between the measured and theoretical ridge height and spacing distributi...

C-band Backscatter Measurements of Winter Sea Ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

During the 1992 Winter Weddell Gyre Study, a C-band scatterometer was used from the German ice-breaker R/V Polarstern to obtain detailed shipborne measurement scans of Antarctic sea ice. The frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW) radar operated at 4.3 GHz and acquired like(VV) and cross-polarization (HV) data at a variety of incidence angles (10-75). Calibrated backscatter data were record...

Form Drag on Ocean Flows

Form drag is a central process linking rough topography to ocean mixing processes. The history of the measurement of form drag in the ocean and atmosphere is reviewed. The basic equations governing form drag and its role in energy conversion are derived for a Boussinesq fluid, focusing on the case of tidal flow. Observational and numerical results are shown for stratified, tidal flow near a hea...

Impact of Breaking Wave Form Drag on Near-Surface Turbulence and Drag Coefficient over Young Seas at High Winds

The effects of breaking waves on near-surface wind turbulence and drag coefficient are investigated using large-eddy simulation. The impact of intermittent and transient wave breaking events (over a range of scales) is modeled as localized form drag, which generates airflow separation bubbles downstream. The simulations are performed for very young sea conditions under high winds, comparable to...

Freshening of the northwestern Weddell Sea