Deformation

Motion of sea ice has been observed to cause both collisions and rifting.  These convergent and divergent regimes break and deform the ice on both the macro and micro scales. One of the major effects of these regimes is on ice thickness: thinning the ice at divergent zones and thickening it at the convergent zones. Ice thickness in turn as a great effect on heat flux in and out of the ice, as well as how long in the season a given area may or may not be ice free, and can thus have an effect on weather patterns.
 

 
  • In for a viscoelastic material such as ice, the stress σ can be related to the product of the strain ε and the Young's modulus Y. Given by the equation   σ= Yε

Folding and formation of a tensional crack in a sea ice floe (Sanderson, 1988)

 

 

 

Convergent Margins

Divergent Margins

Pressure Ridge Building (Photo by Hajo Eicken)

Open Leed (Photo by me)