Abstract
Observations made on 8 and 9 May 1988 by aircraft and two ships in and around the marginal ice zone of the Fram Strait during on-ice air flow under cloudy and cloud-free conditions are presented.
The thermodynamic modification of the air mass moving from the open water to the ice over horizontal distances of 100–300 km is only a few tenth of a degree for temperature and a few tenth of a gram per kilogram for specific humidity. This is due to the small temperature differences between sea and ice surfaces. During the day, the ice surface is even warmer than the sea surface. The stably stratified 200–400 m deep boundary layer is often topped by a moisture inversion leading to downward fluxes of sensible as well as latent heat.
The radiation and energy balance at the surface are measured as functions of ice cover, cloud cover and sun elevation angle. The net radiationR Nis the dominating term of the energy budget. During the day, the difference ofR Nbetween clear and overcast sky is only a few W/m2 over ice, but 100–200 W/m2 over water. During the night,R Nover ice is more sensitive to cloud cover.
The kinematic structure is characterized by strong shears of the longitudinal and the transversal wind component. The profile of the latter one shows an inflection point near the top of the boundary layer. Dynamically-driven roll circulations are numerically separated from the mean flow. The secondary flow patterns have wavelengths of about 1 km and contribute substantially to the total variances and covariances.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andreas, E., Tucker III, W., and Ackley, S.: 1984, ‘Atmospheric Boundary Layer Modification, Drag Coefficient, and Surface Heat Flux in the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone’,J. Geophys. Res. 89(1), 649–661.
Bennett, T. J., and Hunkins, K.: 1986, ‘Atmospheric Boundary Layer Modification in the Marginal Ice Zone’,J. Geophys. Res. 91(11), 13,033–13,044.
Brümmer, B. (ed.): 1989, ARKTIS 1988: ‘Field Phase Report’, Hamburger Geophys. Einzelschriften, Reihe B, Heft 6.
Brümmer, B., and Latif, M.: 1985, ‘Some Studies on Inflection Point Instability’,Contr. Atmosph. Phys. 58, 117–126.
Brümmer, B., Rump, B., and Kruspe, G.: 1992, ‘A Cold-Air Outbreak near Spitsbergen in Springtime: Boundary-Layer Modification and Cloud Development’,Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 61, 13–46.
Busack, B., and Brümmer, B.: 1988, ‘A Case Study of Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves within an Off-Shore Stable Boundary Laver: Observations and Linear Model’,Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 44, 105–135.
Chlond, A.: 1992, ‘Three-Dimensional Simulation of Cloud Street Development in a Cold-Air Outbreak’,Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 58, 161–200.
Chou, S.-H., and Ferguson, M.: 1991, ‘Heat Fluxes and Roll Circulations over the Western Gulf Stream During an Intense Cold-Air Outbreak’,Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 55, 255–281.
Curry, J. A., Ebert, E., and Herman, G. F.: 1988, ‘Mean and Turbulent Structure of the Summertime Arctic Cloudy Boundary Layer’,Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 114, 715–746.
Kantha, L., and Mellor, G.: 1989, ‘A Numerical Model of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Marginal Ice Zone’,J. Geophys. Res. 94(4), 4959–4970.
Kelly, R. D.: 1984, ‘Horizontal Roll and Boundary Layer Interrelationships Observed over Lake Michigan’,J. Atmos. Sci. 41, 1816–1826.
Lilly, D. K.: 1966, ‘On the Stability of Ekman Boundary Flow’,J. Atmos. Sci. 23, 481–494.
Overland, J. E.: 1985, ‘Atmospheric Boundary Layer Structure and Drag Coefficients over Sea Ice’,J. Geophys. Res. 90(5), 9029–9049.
Walter, B.: 1980, ‘Winter-Time Observations of Roll Clouds over the Bering Sea’,Mon. Wea. Rev. 108, 2024–2031.
Walter, B. and Overland, J.: 1991, ‘Aircraft Observations of the Mean and Turbulent Structure of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer during Spring in the Central Arctic’,J. Geophys. Res. 96(3), 4663–4673.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brümmer, B., Busack, B., Hoeber, H. et al. Boundary-layer observations over water and arctic sea-ice during on-ice air flow. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 68, 75–108 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00712665
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00712665