Abstract. Arctic sea ice kinematics and deformation play
significant roles in heat and momentum exchange between the atmosphere and
ocean, and at the same time they have profound impacts on biological processes
and biogeochemical cycles. However, the mechanisms regulating their changes
on seasonal scales and their spatial variability remain poorly understood.
Using position data recorded by 32 buoys in the Pacific sector of the Arctic
Ocean (PAO), we characterized the spatiotemporal variations in ice
kinematics and deformation for autumn–winter 2018/19, during the transition
from a melting sea ice regime to a nearly consolidated ice pack. In autumn,
the response of the sea ice drift to wind and inertial forcing was stronger
in the southern and western PAO compared to the northern and eastern PAO.
These spatial heterogeneities gradually weakened from autumn to winter, in
line with the seasonal increases in ice concentration and thickness.
Correspondingly, ice deformation became much more localized as the sea ice
mechanical strength increased, with the area proportion occupied by the
strongest (15 %) ice deformation decreasing by about 50 % from autumn
to winter. During the freezing season, ice deformation rate in the northern
PAO was about 2.5 times higher than in the western PAO and probably related
to the higher spatial heterogeneity of oceanic and atmospheric forcing in
the north. North–south and east–west gradients in sea ice kinematics and
deformation within the PAO, as observed especially during autumn in this
study, are likely to become more pronounced in the future as a result of a
longer melt season, especially in the western and southern parts.
Application of a vectorial-algebraic method for investigation of spatial-temporal variability of sea ice drift and validation of model calculations in the Arctic Ocean
