Tracking Waves, Ice Motion, and Breakup in the Marginal Ice

Ocean waves play a major role in breaking up sea ice at the edges of ice-covered regions, known as the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ). This wave-driven fragmentation strongly influences how sea ice evolves, but it is still not well represented in many climate and sea ice models. One reason is the difficulty of observing, in real conditions, how waves interact with ice and how this interaction leads to cracking, bending, and eventual breakup.

Observing waves in sea ice with drones : (a) Drone image above the ice edge in Baie du Ha ! Ha ! (Canada) on 26 Feb 2024, 166 m altitude. (b) Map of ice motion at a representative wave frequency, showing surface movement as waves pass. (c) Space–time analysis of ice motion, revealing energy distribution across wavelengths and frequencies ; dashed line shows open-water reference. (d) Wavenumber vs frequency spectrum compared to open water (red dashed line). These panels illustrate how UAV observations track wave propagation and ice response near the ice edge.


To address this challenge, we present a unique dataset collected during a field campaign in winter 2024, in the St. Lawrence Estuary (Canada), where sea ice is naturally exposed to ocean waves. The goal of the campaign was to observe, simultaneously and in detail, how waves travel through ice and how the ice responds mechanically. To do this, we combined several complementary instruments deployed at the same time : geophones to measure vibrations in the ice, floating wave buoys to measure ocean wave amplitude, smartphones used as motion sensors placed directly on the ice so measure wave attenuation in the ice, and drones capturing high-resolution aerial images of the breakup process.

The geophones allow us to estimate ice thickness and stiffness by analyzing how waves travel through the ice. The wave buoys and smartphones measure key wave properties such as height, wavelength, and how waves weaken as they move into the ice. Drone images are processed to extract vertical motion of the ice surface, down to a few millimeters, making it possible to track how waves bend the ice under different conditions. Early results show strong agreement and synergy between these independent measurements, confirming the reliability of the dataset.

By combining multiple observation techniques, this dataset provides an unprecedented view of wave–ice interactions in natural conditions. It offers valuable insight into how waves lose energy in ice, how ice deforms, and how fractures develop, helping researchers improve models of sea ice breakup and better understand changes in ice-covered oceans.


The full study is published on : The Cryosphere



References :

Stroeve, J. C., Serreze, M. C., Holland, M. M., Kay, J. E., Malanik,J., and Barrett, A. P. : The Arctic’s rapidly shrinking sea ice cover : a research synthesis, Climatic Change, 110, 1005–1027

Serripierri, A., Moreau, L., Boue, P., Weiss, J., and Roux, P. :Recovering and monitoring the thickness, density, and elastic properties of sea ice from seismic noise recorded in Svalbard, The Cryosphere, 16, 2527–2543

Scientific contacts :

  • L. Moreau – ISTerre, Université Grenoble Alpes, USMB, CNRS, IRD, UGE, Grenoble, France
  • S. Kuchly – PMMH-ESPCI, Paris, France