Aleksey Marchenko

University Centre in Svalbard | UNIS · Department of Arctic Technology

In this paper we consider flexural-gravity waves propagating in a layer of water of constant depth limited by a vertical wall simulating a straight coastline. The water surface is covered with an elastic ice sheet of constant thickness. The ice sheet is split by one or two straight cracks parallel to the coastline, simulating the structure of land-...

Changes in the masses of icebergs due to deterioration processes affect the drift of icebergs and should be taken into account when assessing iceberg risks in the areas of offshore development. In 2022 and 2023, eight laboratory experiments were carried out in the wave tank of the University Centre in Svalbard to study the melting of icebergs in se...

The Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) forms a critical transition region between the ocean and sea ice cover as it protects the close ice further in from the effect of the steepest and most energetic open ocean waves. As waves propagate through the MIZ, they get exponentially attenuated. Unfortunately, the associated attenuation coefficient is difficult to a...

Progress in our understanding of wave–ice interactions is currently hindered by the lack of in situ observations and information of sea-ice properties, including the elastic modulus. Here, we estimate the effective elastic modulus of sea ice using observations of waves in ice through the deployment of three open-source geophone recorders on landfas...

Received January 19, 2023 ;revised March 22, 2023; accepted June 27, 2023The results of observations and modeling of the formation of the snow-ice cover of Lake Stemme (West Svalbard Island) in winter 2019/20 are presented. The main information was obtained by two radar (GPR) survey, performed on the floating ice of the Lake on March 12 and April 2...

The Marginal Ice Zone is a highly dynamic region where the atmosphere, ocean, waves and sea ice meet. Waves play a fundamental role in this coupled system, but progress in our understanding of wave-ice interactions is currently hindered by the lack of observations of sea ice properties in-situ. In this study we aim to estimate the ice thickness and...

Variability in sea ice conditions, combined with strong couplings to the atmosphere and the ocean, lead to a broad range of complex sea ice dynamics. More in-situ measurements are needed to better identify the phenomena and mechanisms that govern sea ice growth, drift, and breakup. to this end, we have gathered a dataset of in-situ observations of...

The higher resolution numerical model investigates the semidiurnal and diurnal tides over the shallow Spitsbergen Bank. The tidal wave is trapped around Bear Island, Hopen Island, and Central Hill at the Bank in the semidiurnal range of oscillations. Semidiurnal waves around Bear and Hopen Islands generate a trapped dipole in the sea level distribu...

Oceanographic and ice conditions in the region of Spitsbergen Bank in the Barents Sea were investigated in research cruises of the “Polarsyssel” in 2017–2019. Trajectories of ice drift were constructed using GPS data of the buoys deployed on the floes in the research cruises. The duration of the ice season in the region was analyzed using ice chart...

Around Hopen Island, the satellite images and experiments with drifting buoys describe the movement of the drifting ice and depict tidally generated trapped motion. An analytical solution is applied to investigate the trapping phenomenon. A general solution is achieved by the superposition of the incident and reflected (scattered) waves for an elli...

Variability in sea ice conditions, combined with strong couplings to the atmosphere and the ocean, lead to a broad range of complex sea ice dynamics. More in-situ measurements are needed to better identify the phenomena and mechanisms that govern sea ice growth, drift, and breakup. To this end, we have gathered a dataset of in-situ observations of...

Increased knowledge about energy dissipation processes around colliding ice floes is important for improved understanding of atmosphere-ice-ocean energy transfer, wave propagation through sea ice and the polar climates. The aim of this study is to obtain such information by investigating colliding ice floe dynamics in a large-scale experiment and d...

We analyze tidal currents under ice in a shallow channel located near the tip of the Van Mijen Fjord in Spitsbergen. During the flood cycle of tide seawater flows under ice and strongly freezes in a shallow channel. During the ebb cycle salinity of the outflowing water is greater than that of the inflowing water. Salt balance is estimated. During h...

There is a wide consensus within the polar science, meteorology, and oceanography communities that more in situ observations of the ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice are required to further improve operational forecasting model skills. Traditionally, the volume of such measurements has been limited by the high cost of commercially available instrument...

JANUARY 10, 2022 There is a wide consensus within the polar science, meteorology, and oceanography communities 1 that more in-situ observations of the ocean, atmosphere, and sea ice, are required to further improve 2 operational forecasting model skills. Traditionally, the volume of such measurements has been limited 3 by the high cost of commercia...

Observations of wave dissipation and dispersion in sea ice are a necessity for the development and validation of wave–ice interaction models. As the composition of the ice layer can be extremely complex, most models treat the ice layer as a continuum with effective, rather than independently measurable, properties. While this provides opportunities...

Understanding the physical mechanisms behind the deformation of pack ice floes is important for understanding the dynamics of the local ice regime, and for the calibration and validation of ice dynamics models. In April 2017, six Iridium satellite-tracking beacons were deployed on six pack ice floes in the Barents Sea south of Svalbard in the Norwe...

We investigate tidal and higher frequency internal waves southeast of Hopen Island of the Svalbard archipelago using shipborne CTD and ADCP data, model simulations, and satellite observations. The experiment was carried out in the marginal ice zone region. Previous numerical simulations predicted high amplitudes of internal tides here. A series of...

Observations of wave dissipation and dispersion in sea ice are a necessity for the development and validation of wave-ice interaction models. As the composition of the ice layer can be extremely complex, most models treat the ice layer as a continuum with effective, rather than independently measurable, properties. While this provides opportunities...

Increased knowledge about wave attenuation processes in sea ice, and hence atmosphere-wave-ice-ocean energy transfer, is necessary to improve sea ice dynamics models used for climate modeling and offshore applications. The aim of this study is to generate such much needed data by investigating colliding ice floes dynamics in a large-scale experimen...

We developed and deployed two inertial measurement units on mobile pack ice during a U.S. Navy drifting ice campaign in the Beaufort Sea. The ice camp was more than 1000 km from the nearest open water. The sensors were stationed on thick (>1 m) first- and multi–year ice to record 3-D accelerations at 10 Hz for one week during March 2020. During thi...

An experimental investigation of flexural-gravity waves was performed in the Hamburg Ship Model Basin HSVA ice tank. Physical characteristics of the water-ice system were measured in several locations of the tank with a few sensors deployed in the water and on the ice during the tests. The three-dimensional motion of ice was measured with the optic...

In March 2019, Lake Vallunden was surveyed to construct a chart of ice thickness. Lake Valunden is a lake in Spitsbergen at the top of the Van Mijen Fjord. The lake is approximately 1 km long, 600 m wide, and 10 m deep. It is connected to the Van Mijen Fjord by a channel 100 long and 10 m wide. The tides in the fjord are high; hence periodical tida...

Several phenomena are known to attenuate waves in the marginal ice zone, such as wave scattering due to ice floes, viscous dissipation inside the ice and energy dissipation caused by ice floe interactions. Our aim of this study is to investigate colliding ice floes and to quantify the Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) dissipation in the surrounding wa...

Due to their large mass and small aspect ratio, icebergs pose a threat to boats and offshore structures. Small icebergs and bergy bits can cause harm to platform hulls and are more difficult to discover remotely. As icebergs are dynamic mediums, the study of icebergs in relation to safe human operations requires the rigorous analysis of the ice-oce...

Waves can drastically transform a sea ice cover by inducing break-up over vast distances in the course of a few hours. However, relatively few detailed studies have described this phenomenon in a quantitative manner, and the process of sea ice break-up by waves needs to be further parameterized and verified before it can be reliably included in for...

Complex bending deformation of L-shaped beams was previously investigated experimentally at several locations near the University Centre of Svalbard. The breaking force of the beam was related to the mechanical properties of ice by performing finite element analysis and by deriving analytical expressions for the state of stress on the surface of th...

Further to systematic experiments on the flexural strength of laboratory-grown, fresh water ice loaded cyclically, this paper describes results from new experiments of the same kind on lake ice harvested in Svalbard. The experiments were conducted at −12 °C, 0.1 Hz frequency and outer-fiber stress in the range from ~ 0.1 to ~ 0.7 MPa. The results s...

The results of ice and hydrological studies of the shallow Bay of Braganzavågen (Van Mayen Fjord Bay, West Spitsbergen Island) in March 2016 and 2018, supplemented with model calculations using a thermodynamic model, are presented. The model uses both known methods of localizing the phase transition region-the classical (frontal) for fast ice and i...

The second edition of ISO 19906 Arctic Offshore structures was issued in 2019. In this paper, we describe the changes that were made to sections dealing with ice properties and discuss the relationship between them and ice actions. The changes can be divided into five groups: 1) Physical properties (temperature, density and porosity), 2) modulus of...

Waves can drastically transform a sea ice cover by inducing break-up over vast distances in the course of a few hours. However, relatively few detailed studies have described this phenomenon in a quantitative manner, and the process of sea ice break-up by waves needs to be further parameterized and verified before it can be reliably included in for...

This paper describes preliminary results of laboratory non-reversed 3-point flexural cyclic loading experiments under displacement control on natural S2 columnar lake and sea ice harvested on Svalbard. Freshwater ice was loaded normal to the columns; sea ice was loaded along the columns. The experiments were conducted at-12ºC, 0.1 Hz frequency and...

We present results from measurement of acoustic emissions (AE) during compression and indentation of natural sea ice in situ. We show that AE amplitudes are associated with load, so that periods of loading and unloading, and cyclic oscillations in loading during indentation, can be determined from AE records as well as from load measurements. We sh...

Sea ice is a major feature of the polar environments. Recent changes in the climate and extent of the sea ice, together with increased economic activity and research interest in these regions, are driving factors for new measurements of sea ice dynamics. Waves in ice are important as they participate in the coupling between the open ocean and the i...

The results of field work on drift ice during wave propagation are analyzed and presented. The field work was performed in the Barents Sea, and the main focus of the paper is on wave processes in the MIZ. A model of wave damping in broken ice is formulated and applied to interpret the field work results. It is confirmed that waves of higher frequen...

The concept of the offshore oil and gas field development using floating ship-shaped platforms, frequently named floating production units (FPU further), with turret mooring is widely used in the world, including regions with harsh environment. The direct transfer of this concept to the Arctic seas is not possible, mostly due to the difficulties of...

The present paper describes the results of a rather long series of full–scale, flexural–strength tests on ice beams (over 70 tests) performed in–situ in seawater and freshwater ice at and near Svalbard archipelago during the period 2010–2018. Ice thickness varied in the range of 0.2–0.8 m. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the test data, charact...

The results of field work on drift ice during wave propagation are analyzed and presented. The field work was performed in the Barents Sea, and the main focus of the paper is on wave processes in the MIZ. A model of wave damping in broken ice is formulated and applied to interpret the field work results. It is confirmed that waves of higher frequen...

The paper is focused on the analysis of the drift of tabular iceberg observed in 2009 in the marginal ice zone of the North-West Barents Sea. Momentum balance equations are derived from the Kirchhoff equations describing plane motion of solid body in an ideal fluid. Field works performed on the drift iceberg and on the drift icenear the iceberg are...

One of the methods to determine the flexural strength of ice and its effective elastic modulus is loading tests of floating cantilever ice beams. This is a practical and relatively simple approach enabling researchers to test ice beam samples representing natural distribution of temperature and salinity in ice cover. The results of such experiments...

A model of the hydraulic rig was constructed and validated using the data of calibration tests performed to estimate internal elasticity and viscosity of the rig. A steel frame to constrain an extension of the rig was designed and constructed to estimate an effective elastic modulus of the loading system. The effective rig viscosity was estimated b...

Modeling the fracture behavior of ice during mixed-mode loading is difficult. Historically, fracture testing in the field has focused primarily on experimental conditions such as flexural or tensile loading, which results in failure dominated by a single mode. Between 2014 and 2016, nine field experiments were performed on L-shaped cantilever beams...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of tidal currents on sea ice in Spitsbergen fjords which may cause rapid decrease of the ice thickness due to erosion and melting of the ice. The effect was studied in-situ near the narrow channel connecting the Van Mijen Fjord and Lake Vallunden. The strong jet-like tidal currents in the st...

Realistic models of Arctic Ocean behaviour should capture the influence of broken ice acting as a fault gouge between sliding floes. We performed double-direct shear friction tests on floating saline ice floes in the HSVA ARCTECLAB, Large Model Basin, Hamburg. We have focused these experiments on angularity and size to determine fault gouge charact...

Water wave attenuation by grease ice is a key mechanism for the polar regions, as waves in ice influence many phenomena such as ice drift, ice breaking and ice formation. However, the models presented so far in the literature are limited in a number of regards, and more insights are required from either laboratory experiments or fieldwork for these...

An experiment on the propagation of flexural-gravity waves was performed in the HSVA ice tank. Physical characteristics of the water-ice system were measured in different locations in the tank during the tests, with a number of sensors deployed in the water, on the ice and in the air. Water velocity was measured with an acoustic doppler velocimeter...

Water wave attenuation by grease ice is a key mechanism for the polar regions. However, the models presented so far in the literature are limited in a number of regards, and more insights are required from either laboratory experiments or fieldwork for these models to be validated and improved. Unfortunately, performing detailed measurements of wav...

Records of the ice pressures on the joggle skirt of the coal quay in Spitsbergen were performed over winter seasons in 2013 and 2015. The ice thickness below the quay was above 2 m. Ice temperature over the ice thickness and water pressure at the sea bed were measured synchronously. It was discovered that sea water migrates through the ice confined...

The impact of tidal wave on a permeable shore consisting of porous material results in groundwater table lying above the average sea level. This effect, stemming from the nonlinearity of the process of seawater flow in the soil, is referred to as pumping effect.

The permeability of sea ice can strongly affect the dissipation of wave energy into the ice pack. Sea-ice permeability is known to be impacted by the brine volume fraction and the blockage of flow pathways by the freezing of infiltrating lower salinity water. Here we investigate another process impacting sea-ice permeability, namely, inelastic defo...

The iceberg drift model is developed and used for simulating the iceberg drift trajectory in the Barents Sea. The model is forced by hydrometeorological characteristics obtained from ship observations. Original techniques for retrieving the sea-level slope gradient and surface velocity of currents are proposed, implemented, and validated using inde...

Analytical steady-state solutions describing zonal and circular drift of sea ice under the wind drag are constructed and analysed in the case of the ice with elastic-plastic rheology considered in the AIDJEX project. The influence of the Coriolis force and sea surface tilt is included in the analysis. It is shown that all constructed solutions incl...

A model for wave transmission within a layer of a liquid covered with broken drifting ice is studied. The model does not concretize floe-floe interaction, and water-floe interaction is described by viscous law with the coefficient of eddy viscosity. The formula for calculation of the wave energy dissipation by broken ice is derived. Wave damping de...

A model for wave transmission within a layer of a liquid covered with broken drifting ice is studied. The said model does not concretize interaction between ice-floes, and interaction of the ice-floes and water is described by а law of viscosity using a coefficient of eddy viscosity. On account of voluntary interaction of the ice blocks a formula f...

Industrial development in the Arctic enhances the potential risk of accidents occurring under severe conditions. Detailed knowledge of the physical environment and understanding of risk reduction methods are necessary for technical experts and young specialists planning to work in companies dealing with the Arctic. The Arctic is a place of close co...

Ice gouging is a dangerous natural process typical for the coastal-shelf zone of the Russian Arctic; because it leads to damaging of the infrastructure it can also be related to the category of catastrophic processes. To lower the risks of occurrence and to prevent emergencies and their consequences, comprehensive monitoring of the dangerous natura...

The results of oceanographic and sea ice studies in the shallow Braganzavågen Gulf (Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard) in March 2016 are presented. These studies are a continuation of observational efforts initiated by UNIS (Svalbard, Norway) in 2014. 2016 field campaign includes instrumental measurements of snow and ice properties in the fjord (e.g., ice...

A model of the thermo-elastic behaviour of saline ice is formulated, and model solutions describing thermo-elastic waves (TEW) propagating into a halfspace of the ice are investigated. The model is based on a proposal that saline ice is a matrix, which encompasses both closed brine pockets and permeable channels filled with brine. Experiments on th...

The coastal zone of the sea is a boundary domain between seawater and land, making most processes within it to show specific features. Seawater can penetrate into aquifers in the land part of the shore through the underwater part of the sea–shore interface and move over considerable distances from the shoreline, mixing with fresh groundwater. This...

We analyze seawater temperature and salinity in the immediate vicinity of the Paulbreen front in Spitsbergen. The CTD-measurements were carried out from ice in winter and from a boat in summer. ADCP profiling was performed near the glacier front from the ice in winter. In winter, we found water with lower salinity than the surrounding water in the...

Flexural failure of sea ice is of interest in many different applications, ranging from understanding rubble formation processes to modeling bending failure of ice sheets against sloped structures and ship hulls. In this paper we present a brief summary of recent in-situ experiments carried out on side-loaded sea ice beam specimens on the ice field...

Drifting icebergs and sea ice floes can be serious threats to offshore structures in the Arctic; however, information about their drift is limited. We performed GPS tracking of 9 icebergs and 10 ice floes in the Kanumas area of the Greenland Sea during 2012–2014. The obtained coordinates were used to analyse the drift trajectories, derived velociti...

Ice is extremely variable, and because waves and ice may interact in a number of ways depending on the ice and wave characteristics, wave prediction in ice covered waters is a difficult, and in some ways intractable, problem. A review of wave-ice interaction is made, and special attention is given to formulations of the dispersion relation. The dis...

This paper presents the results of meso-scale (~1m) in-situ tests on the tensile strength of saline and freshwater floating ice. These results are directly comparable to previous small scale tests, in which the measured tensile strength of sea ice and fresh ice decreases from 1MPa to 0.2MPa as the temperature increases from-30C to-2C. The new exper...

The paper contains results of experimental studies of ice fracture mechanics based on loading of the floating ice beams with fixed ends. Both natural and model ice properties were investigated. Full-scale field works were performed on sea ice of Svalbard Archipelago, and the model ice studies of two ice types – fine granule and columnar – were carr...