An experimental program carried out in the ARCTECLAB of the Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt GmbH (HSVA)

Dr. Hajo Eicken / Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research (Germany)

Ice-growth experiments were carried out in an Environmental Test Basin to study the evolution of the microstructure and physico-chemical characteristics of the ice as well as the growth and development of sea-ice biological communities as a function of the relevant boundary conditions (thermal forcing, current velocity, waves etc.).
Linkages between salt and heat fluxes and ice evolution were assessed through microstructural analyses, involving also improvement of sampling and analysis techniques. As testified by measurements of biomass as well as primary and bacterial production, a viable community of Arctic sea-ice organisms could be established in the ice. While currents had a considerable impact on ice structural evolution, ice organisms were mostly affected by thermal forcing and the light regime. In separate enclosures, bioremediation strategies in oil-polluted sea ice were studied. A further component of the experimental program was devoted to particle entrainment into the ice cover and wave-ice interaction.

- Geophysical Institute, Allè gaten 70, N-5007 Bergen, Norway (L. H. Smedsrud)
- Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge University, Silver St., Cambridge, CB3 9EW, U. K. (M. Reisemann)
- Scott Polar Research Institute, Lensfield Rd., Cambridge, CB2 1ER, U. K. (P. Wadhams, F. Cottier, R. Hall)
- Dept. of Ecology and Systematics, Div. Hydrobiology, P.O. Box 17, FIN- 00014 Helsinki, Finland (J. Ikaevalko)
- Finnish Institute of Marine Research (FIMR), P.O. Box 33, FIN-00931 Helsinki, Finland (H. Kuosa)
- Institute for Polar Ecology, Wischhofstr. 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany (R. Gradinger,. C. Krembs)
- Geomar Research Center for Marine Geosciences, Wischhofstr. 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany (F. Lindemann)
- Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Postfach 12 01 61, D-27515 Bremerhaven, Germany (H. Eicken, J. Weissenberger)

Eicken,H. et al.:
Ice-tank studies of physical and biological sea-ice processes Proceedings of the 14th International IAHR Ice Symposium, Potsdam, N.Y., July 1998

For more information, please contact:
Hajo Eicken (hajo.eicken@gi.alaska.edu)