An ice cover which progrades over a shallow ocean in the form
of an ice front may induce a baroclinic flow in the underlying water,
provided that the brine excluded from the freezing surface layer is
mixed rapidly through out the underlying water column. A series of
models are developed to gain insight into the significance of this process
in an initially motionless ocean and of its interaction with a
pre-established circulation. For a simplified case, the near-surface
flow rate is of the order of 2 cm sec⁻¹ and directed to the east in the
northern Hemisphere. The volume transport under the ice front and
assuming a typical depth of 100 m, is about 0.1 Sverdrup. However,
for the case of an interaction with pre-existing circulation, and in particular
with a circular motion, higher speeds of the induced currents
may be expected. It might be concluded that the process may play a
significant role in winter circulation in shallow marginal polar seas,
where a winter pycnocline is absent. / Graduation date: 1975
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28558 |
| Date | 13 January 1975 |
| Creators | Badan-Dangon, Antoine Renaud Fabrice |
| Contributors | Neshyba, Stephen |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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