Estimates of Sea Ice Mechanical Properties in the Kara Sea

• Published in: Pure and applied geophysics Vol. 177; no. 10; pp. 5101 - 5116
• Main Authors: Duan, Chenglin, Dong, Sheng, Wang, Zhifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Geophysics/Geodesy; uncertainty analysis; mechanical property; ISO 19906; return value; Kara Sea; Sea ice
• ISSN: 0033-4553; 1420-9136
• DOI: 10.1007/s00024-020-02543-8

On the basis of available public data, an approximate theoretical approach for characterizing the Arctic sea ice engineering properties is explored and discussed in the Kara Sea. The corrected ERA-Interim sea ice thickness and ORAP5 sea ice temperature database are selected as the basic ice physical parameters. The formulas recommended by ISO 19906 are chosen as the estimation criteria for the ice mechanical properties. The generalized extreme value theory is used to analyze the ice extreme statistics. Specifically, the typical mechanical properties including compressive strength, flexural strength, shear strength and elastic modulus are comprehensively studied. The results reveal that all the mechanical properties show higher levels in the northeastern zone than in the southwestern zone, with the heaviest ice regime around the southwestern Severnaya Zemlya. In addition, an uncertainty analysis is provided. Compared to the published measurements, the snowless flexural strength values obtained are relatively conservative. Additionally, the shear equation in ISO 19906 should be pre-corrected before practical application.