Abstract | This paper discusses three years of property measurements that were made on decaying first-year sea ice in the Canadian Arctic. Data were collected on five, level, landfast first-year ice sites in Parry Channel. Measurements, made from May to July/August, included the snow and ice thickness, ice temperature and salinity, and the in situ confined compressive strength of the ice (borehole strength). Ice properties at each of the sites changed dramatically as the ice decayed. Changes included gradual warming in the ice (until it reached an isothermal state), continual desalination of the ice and an 85 to 90 % reduction in strength compared to the winter maximum strength of first-year ice. |
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