Seasonal Freezing of a Subwater
Ground Layer at the Laptev Sea Shelf
Peter V. Bogorodskii, Andrey V. Pnyushkov and Vasilii Yu. Kustov
Introduction
Fast ice is a regular congelation ice, formed when initial forms of drifting ice (e.g.,
frazil and grease ice, slash, and shuga) are frozen in shallow coastal waters, where
the natural roughness of the coast contributes to their cohesion to a shore. Regular
ice observations at polar stations suggest that the formation of fast ice occurs when
sea ice thickness reaches 5–10 cm, usually within 10–15 days after the onset of
steady ice formation. At the initial stages, fast ice appears at the coastline in the
form of ice shores [26]. At shallow depths (<2–3 m), the layer of water beneath
the ice can freeze completely and the newly formed ice begins to directly affect the
physical and mechanical properties of bottom sediments, including freezing of
porous water there and the appearance of frozen rocks [3, 13, 30].
Fast (immobile) ice along the continental and insular coasts of the Laptev Sea
represents a characteristic feature of the Arctic ice landscape and belongs to the
most developed ice types in the Siberian shelf seas. The nearly wholly fast ice in the
Laptev Sea is formed in the southern and southeastern parts of the sea, covering
about 40% of the sea area at the end of ice development season: i.e., April–May
[11]. Such a large area covered with fast ice suggests that the southeastern Laptev
Sea has the widest fast ice extent in the Arctic Ocean [22]. Interannual changes in
fast ice edge position in the Laptev Sea are less dependent on fluctuations of
hydrometeorological conditions (as was evident, for example, from low correlations
P. V. Bogorodskii ( ✉ ) ⋅ V. Yu. Kustov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: bogorodski@aari.ru
A. V. Pnyushkov
International Arctic Research Centre, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
A. V. Pnyushkov
Arctic Research Centre, University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
M. G. Velarde et al. (eds.), The Ocean in Motion, Springer Oceanography,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71934-4_39
611
Ground Layer at the Laptev Sea Shelf
Peter V. Bogorodskii, Andrey V. Pnyushkov and Vasilii Yu. Kustov
Introduction
Fast ice is a regular congelation ice, formed when initial forms of drifting ice (e.g.,
frazil and grease ice, slash, and shuga) are frozen in shallow coastal waters, where
the natural roughness of the coast contributes to their cohesion to a shore. Regular
ice observations at polar stations suggest that the formation of fast ice occurs when
sea ice thickness reaches 5–10 cm, usually within 10–15 days after the onset of
steady ice formation. At the initial stages, fast ice appears at the coastline in the
form of ice shores [26]. At shallow depths (<2–3 m), the layer of water beneath
the ice can freeze completely and the newly formed ice begins to directly affect the
physical and mechanical properties of bottom sediments, including freezing of
porous water there and the appearance of frozen rocks [3, 13, 30].
Fast (immobile) ice along the continental and insular coasts of the Laptev Sea
represents a characteristic feature of the Arctic ice landscape and belongs to the
most developed ice types in the Siberian shelf seas. The nearly wholly fast ice in the
Laptev Sea is formed in the southern and southeastern parts of the sea, covering
about 40% of the sea area at the end of ice development season: i.e., April–May
[11]. Such a large area covered with fast ice suggests that the southeastern Laptev
Sea has the widest fast ice extent in the Arctic Ocean [22]. Interannual changes in
fast ice edge position in the Laptev Sea are less dependent on fluctuations of
hydrometeorological conditions (as was evident, for example, from low correlations
P. V. Bogorodskii ( ✉ ) ⋅ V. Yu. Kustov
Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: bogorodski@aari.ru
A. V. Pnyushkov
International Arctic Research Centre, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
A. V. Pnyushkov
Arctic Research Centre, University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018
M. G. Velarde et al. (eds.), The Ocean in Motion, Springer Oceanography,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71934-4_39
611