Sea ice and snow thickness and physical properties of an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea and their changes during spring warming

Helicopter-borne and ground-based electromagnetic (EM) ice thickness and ruler-stick snow thickness measurements as well as ice-core analyses of ice temperature, salinity and texture were performed over a 5-week observation period between November 27, 2004, and January 2, 2005, on an ice floe in the western Weddell Sea at approximately 67°S, 55°W. The study was part of the Ice Station Polarstern (ISPOL) expedition of German research icebreaker R.V. Polarstern, investigating changes of physical, biological, and biogeochemical properties during the spring warming as a function of atmospheric and oceanic boundary conditions. The ice floe was composed of fragments of thin and thick first-year ice and thick second-year ice, with modal total thicknesses of 1.2–1.3, 2.1, and 2.4–2.9 m, respectively. This included modal snow thicknesses of 0.2–0.5 m on first-year ice and 0.75 m on second-year ice. During the observation period, snow thickness decreased by less than 0.2 m. There was hardly any ice thinning. Warming of snow and ice between 0.1 and 1.9 °C resulted in decreased ice salinity and increased brine volume. Direct current (DC) geoelectric and electromagnetic (EM) induction depth sounding were performed to study changes of electrical ice conductivity as a result of the observed ice warming. Bulk ice conductivity increased from to 37 to 97 mS/m. Analysis of conductivity anisotropy showed that the horizontal ice conductivity changed from 9 to 70 mS/m. These conductivity changes have only negligible effects on the thickness retrieval from EM measurements.