Laboratory simulation of the floating ice influence on the dynamic of the ocean-atmosphere boundary layer

Abstract

Presented work concerned on the investigation of the ice cover influence on the wind – wave interaction in the marine atmospheric boundary layer. Unique laboratory experiments on the modeling of influence of pancake type of forming floe ice were carried out on the ring wind-wave facility AEOLOTRON university of Heidelberg. The round rubber pucks were used as artificial ice floes. Experiments were carried out for wide range of wind – wave states and artificial ice concentration. Simultaneous measurements of surface elevation, air flow parameters, and artificial floe ice coverage was carried out. For the case of the ice presence, the evolution of the surface demonstrated threshold behavior. The obtained threshold of the excitation of long waves (the length is much greater than the average size of the ice elements and the distance between them), depended on the wind rate and ice concentration.