The seasonal evolution of sea ice floe size distribution

The Arctic sea ice cover undergoes large changes over an annual cycle. In winter and spring, the ice cover consists of large, snow‐covered plate‐like ice floes, with very little open water. By the end of summer, the snow cover is gone and the large floes have broken into a complex mosaic of smaller, rounded floes surrounded by a lace of open water. This evolution strongly affects the distribution and fate of the solar radiation deposited in the ice‐ocean system and consequently the heat budget of the ice cover. In particular, increased floe perimeter can result in enhanced lateral melting. We attempt to quantify the floe evolution process through the concept of a floe size distribution that is modified by lateral melting and floe breaking. A time series of aerial photographic surveys made during the SHEBA field experiment is analyzed to determine evolution of the floe size distribution from spring through summer. Based on earlier studies, we assume the floe size cumulative distribution could be represented by a power law D−α, where D is the floe diameter. The exponent α as well as the number density of floes Ntot are estimated from measurements of total ice area and perimeter. As summer progressed, there was an increase in α as the size distribution shifted toward smaller floes and the number of floes increased. Lateral melting causes the distribution to deviate from a power law for small floe sizes. Key Points: Dynamics and thermodynamics govern evolution of sea ice floe size distribution Observations indicate major changes in the floe size distribution during summer Floe breaking in summer increases the number of floes and total floe perimeter