Simulating iceberg drift within sea ice in the Greenland Sea and Barents Sea
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Despite the large threat of icebergs drifting within sea ice for human activities, the drag force of sea ice on icebergs is neglected in most studies. In this study, a model for iceberg drift is applied on the cases of five iceberg trajectories, that have been observed to drift within sea ice in the Greenland Sea and Barents Sea between 2012 and 2025. Those icebergs were either locked in the sea ice drift or were dragged by sea ice, water and wind. We show that the drag by sea ice has a considerable contribution to the iceberg drift in both observations and simulations. The simulations could reproduce some of the observed trajectories (IB-I and IV) while the simulations show slightly larger error in other cases (IB-II,III). Contributing to the simulation error, varied ocean and sea ice input caused large simulation spread of 0.2 to 1.5× the observed drift distance and 13 to 85◦ drift direction. This shows the large potential of an input-driven iceberg ensemble and the need for more accurate ocean and sea ice products. The sea ice concentration in the sea ice products proved to be within the sea ice chart information, but in average higher than local observations. Further, simulation results with large error and trajectories in large CI and could be improved by using a lower threshold of (CI=0.7) for an iceberg lock-in, and a sea ice concentration-dependent sea-ice-drag coefficient. Those adaptions cause the small Arctic icebergs to drift with the sea ice more easily and farther.
Institution: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,960
Funder: Norges Forskningsråd
Award: G7360177066
OpenAlex ID: W7135378954