Significance of Sea Water Supercooling and Intrawater Ice Generation for the Formation of Water Mass and Ice Cover in the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas
G. A. Lebedev, V. I. Fedotov, and N. V. Cherepanov
Considered is a case study for the East Siberian and Chukchi seas on the significance of the supercooled water and intrawater ice crystals for the formation of the ice cover structure. Given are the brief hydrometeorological description of the region under consideration and the description of ice con¬ditions in the seas depending on the coming of heavy Arctic ice from the north. It is noted that the inten¬sity of the cooling of the surface water layer in autumn-winter time will increase due to the decrease in the ice coverage of the seas in the case of the further increase in the ice-free area. This will result in the supercooling of the surface water layer on the large territory and will cause the intensive formation of frazil ice. The accumulation of intrawater (frazil) ice crystals with their possible freezing into solid mass is inevitable in local areas at the new regular contact with supercooled water that favors the increase in the total thickness of the ice cover. It is also revealed that supercooled water initiates the freezing (con-solidation) of detritus in ice hummocks and coastal stamukhas. It is demonstrated that supercooling of water in the seas under consideration in autumn and winter takes place throughout the shelf zone to the bottom on large areas, but due to lower salinity, the density of this water is insufficient for taking part in the formation of deep water layers. Therefore, the water of the shelf zone of these seas influences the formation of surface Arctic water only. This distinguishes considerably the studied processes from those observed in Antarctic water.