Physical and optical characteristics of heavily melted “rotten” Arctic sea ice

Frantz, Carie M.; Light, Bonnie; Farley, Samuel M.; Carpenter, Shelly; Lieblappen, Ross; Courville, Zoe; Orellana, Mónica V.; Junge, Karen

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-775-2019

Articles | Volume 13, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-775-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-775-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 3

Research article

|

05 Mar 2019

Research article |

| 05 Mar 2019

Physical and optical characteristics of heavily melted “rotten” Arctic sea ice

Carie M. Frantz, Bonnie Light, Samuel M. Farley, Shelly Carpenter, Ross Lieblappen, Zoe Courville, Mónica V. Orellana, and Karen Junge

Data sets

Extreme summer melt: Assessing the habitability and physical structure of rotting first-year Arctic sea ice K. Junge, B. Light, M. Orellana, C. Frantz, S. Carpenter, and S. Farley https://doi.org/10.18739/A28C9R366

Short summary

This paper provides a characterization of the physical and optical properties of "rotten" Arctic sea ice collected in two field seasons from off the coast of Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. Rotten ice is physically and optically distinct when compared to ice from earlier in the melt season. It is marked by large connected pores, has lost most of its brine content, and scatters more light. This fragile, permeable ice type may become increasingly important in a warming Arctic.