Mesoscale variations in surface stress, heat fluxes, and drag coefficient in the marginal ice zone during the 1983 Marginal Ice Zone Experiment

Abstract

A series of turbulence and mean meteorological measurements were made from an instrumented aircraft during the 1983 Marginal Ice Zone Experiment in the Greenland Sea in July 1983. Using the inertial‐dissipation method, estimates of the surface fluxes of momentum, sensible heat, and latent heat have been obtained for five transects across the marginal ice zone (MIZ). The total heat flux was found to be about 30 W m −2 over the ocean and near zero over the ice. The 10‐m neutral drag coefficient went from an average of 1.3 × 10 −3 over the ocean to 3.3 × 10 −3 over the pack ice (a total distance of about 160 km). Most of the change occurred in a region about 60 km wide. In “sea breeze” conditions the surface stress was reduced about a factor of 2 in the MIZ center by stability effects.