On the spacing and draft distributions for pressure ridge keels

Abstract

The negative exponential distribution is reconsidered as a description of pressure ridge spacings and drafts. It is found to give an excellent fit for drafts but not for spacings. The spacing distribution is found to be fitted much better by a three‐parameter lognormal distribution, of which the third parameter (the threshold) is dependent on the beam width of the instrument used to collect the ice bottom profile.