Ice ridges in landfast ice of Shokal'skogo Strait

Abstract

Three first-year ice ridges have been examined with respect to geometry and morphology in landfast ice of Shokal'skogo Strait (Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago) in May 2018. Two of the studied ice ridges were located on the edge of the ridged field and were part of it, because their keels extended for a long distance deep into this field. Ice ridges characteristics are discussed in the paper. These studies were conducted using hot water thermal drilling with computer recording of the penetration rate. Boreholes were drilled along the cross-section of the ridge crest at 0.25 m intervals. Cross-sectional profiles of ice ridges are illustrated. The maximal sail height varied from 2.9 up to 3.2 m, the maximal keel depth varied from 8.5 up to 9.6 m. The average keel depth to sail height ratio varied from 2.8 to 3.3, and the thickness of the consolidated layer was 2.5-3.5 m. The porosity of the non-consolidated part of the keel was about 23-27%. The distributions of porosity versus depth for all ice ridges are presented.

Keywords

• ice ridge
• water thermal drilling
• cross-sectional profile
• consolidated layer
• porosity