A Study of the M-2 Tide in the Ice-Covered Arctic Ocean

Abstract

A model to study M2 tide propagation in the Arctic Ocean based on the equation of motion of the water and the pack ice, is considered. The mechanics of the ice floe interaction is described by the non-linear viscous constitutive loaw. Various empirical parameters entering the constitutive law are checked against the tide-induced motion of the pack ice. The distribution of the amplitude, phase, current ellipse in the ice-free and the ice-covered Arctic Ocean is computed and presented in figures. Special attention is given to clarifying the distribution and peculiarities of tide propagation in the Barents Sea. The tide-induced motion of the pack ice has been studied carefully; numerous experiments show that residual (over tidal period) ice drift is observed due to the non-linear ice floe interaction. It is found that both residual ice drift and periodical ice motion may lead to ice redistribution, setting the areas of ice convergence and divergence.

Keywords

• Hydrodynamics
• M2 tide
• ice mechanics
• numerical methods
• Arctic ocean