METEOROLOGY ICE AT SEA

ICE AT SEA
Ice at sea mainly refers to the floating ice encountered at sea and is of two types:

1. Sea – ice: formed by the freezing of the sea water

2. Ice-bergs: which are huge masses of floating ice.

(A) Sea-Ice:
 Sea-ice accounts for most of the ice met with at sea.
 Fresh water freezes at 00C whereas salt water freezes at lower temperatures.
The greater the salinity, the lower is the freezing temperature. Average
seawater is of salinity 35% (parts per thousand) and it freezes at about -20C.
 As the surface cools, the surface water becomes denser and sinks, creating
convection currents. Water will not freeze until the entire body of water has
cooled to the freezing temperature. Hence, the surface of deep-sea water does
not freeze, even if the air temperature is extremely low.
 In shallow waters, the convection currents have very little vertical distance to
travel. The entire body of water is easily cooled to freezing temperature and
sea-ice forms over shoal banks, over bays, inlets, straits and estuaries where
there is no appreciable current / tide and where salinity is low.
 Ice first forms on the surface because of the contact with very cold air and
spreads downwards, with the initial ice crystals on the surface acting as nuclei.
 When the air temperature is very low, and a few particles of ice are already
present, these particles can cause more ice to form on the surface, even though
the entire body of water has not yet cooled to freezing temperature.
 Wave action hinders the formation of sea-ice. If sea-ie has already formed, wave
action breaks it up into small pieces (brash-ice). Currents or tides carry away the
ice particles and retard the growth of sea-ice.
 Sea-ice may grow about 7-10 cm think during the first 24 hours and about 5-7 cm
more in the next 24 hours. Thereafter, the growth is slower because the surface
ice insulates the water beneath from the cold air.

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(B) Icebergs
Icebergs are huge masses of floating ice, broken off from either glaciers or ice-
shelves. Though the relative density of pure, solid, FW ice is 0.916, the relative density
of icebergs is only about 0.9 because of pockets of air trapped in them.

(i) Icebergs of Glacier origin:

 When persistent snow falls on a mountainside and freezes into ice, the weight
of the ice makes the entire mass of ice slide down the mountainside. The ice
slides down very slowly, about a few centimeters per day because of
obstructions such as rocks, trees, etc. Such ice is called a glacier.
 When the lower edge of a glacier reaches the sea, large chucks break off and
are carried away as icebergs by ocean currents and winds.
 Icebergs of glacier origin have irregular shapes. Their tops are frequently
pinnacle shaped and their sides are sloping. They are hence not good radar
targets, considering their size. Such icebergs are known to suddenly disappear
from the radar screen due to change of aspect, even when the range has not
increased.
 As per actual observations, the depth below water of an iceberg of glacier
origin may be anything from one to five times its visible its visible height above
the sea surface. This refers to vertical distance not volume. Parts of icebergs
may extend horizontally much further underwater than visible above water.
 Most of the icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere are of the Glacier origin. 90%
of the land ice in the North Polar Region is in Greenland. A huge number of
icebergs break off from Greenland each year but only about 1% of them make it
to the Atlantic ocean.

(ii) Icebergs of Ice-shelf origin:

 These are common in high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.

 They are huge chunks broken off from large ice-shelves. Sometimes, an entire
shallow bay of water freezes and later on breaks off and floats free.

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 Icebergs of ice-shelf origin are generally called tubular bergs because of their
vertical sides and smooth, horizontal tops. They are good radar targets. They
are white in colour with greenish or bluish hue.
 Many have been measured and found to be 20-30 miles long and 10-35 metres
high.
 In the Antarctic, apart from Tubular bergs, black and white berg are weathered
bergs are seen. Black and white bergs give the appearance of rocks and
contain mud and stones. Weathered bergs are those that are in the advanced
stage of disintegration. Period of their survival depends on the rapidity of its
transport to lower latitudes.

Classification of Ice-Bergs
Ice-bergs have been classified by the International Ice Patrol as follows:

Height above SL in mtrs Length in metres

Growler Under 1 Under 6
Bergy Bit 1 to 6 6 to 15
Small berg 6 to 15 15 to 60
Medium berg 15 to 45 60 to 120
Large berg 45 to 80 120 to 215
Very large berg Over 80 Over 215

In case the length of an iceberg and its height fall into different categories, the larger
of the two classes is used.

Diminution of Icebergs
Icebergs become smaller in size due to the following reasons:

1. Calving: when pieces break off disturbing its equilibrium so that it may either
float at a different angle or capsize.
2. Melting: it is caused by warm ocean currents. Such underwater melting will
result in frequent toppling and calving. Melting can also be due to warm air or
sunlight.
3. Erosion: this is caused by the erosive action of wind and waves.

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Visibility of an Iceberg:
(A) Day-Time

 On days with clear sky, about 18 NM off fom the masthead and about 12-15 NM
from the bridge.
 On cloudy days with good visibility, about 2 NM less than that on clear days.
 With light fog or haze, rain or drizzle – 2 to 3 NM
 With dense fog – it is not detectable more than 100 metres.

(B) Night-Time

 On nights with clear skies and good visibility, less than about 0.5 NM.
 Difficult to detect in moderate or rough seas.
 Moonlight has a very strong but variable effect on visual detection range,
depending on the azimuth and altitude of the moon, bearing of the iceberg,
etc.

Probable indication of the proximity of Icebergs

1. Possible detection by radar: It should be borne in mind that sub-refraction
usually exists in the vicinity of icebergs. Icebergs may have smooth sloping
sides making them poor radar targets. The low profile growler is the poorest
form of ice target for radar detection whose range is not more than 4 NM.
2. Thundering noises as growlers calve from icebergs.
3. Ice-blink i.e. whitish glare on the low clouds near the horizon.
4. Presence of smaller pieces of ice which may have calved from the iceberg. The
iceberg would probably be to windward.
5. Noise of sea breaking over edge of the iceberg.
6. Abrupt smoothening of the sea and gradual lessening of ocean swell
accompanied by severe drop of air temperature. These are caused when the
vessel comes into the lee of an iceberg.

Note: Echoes of the ships whistle from an iceberg or Sonar signals are not considered
reliable indications.

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Ice Regions and Ice encounter:

 Ice regions can be those where ice may be encountered.
 Ships during their transit between Europe and East Coast Ports of Canada and
USA, traverse a Great Circle route that brings them into the vicinity of ice and
icebergs near the Grand Banks.
 This ice is carried south by the cold Labrador current and poses substantial risk to
the safe navigation of the ships in these waters.
 An identical difficulty is also experienced in the Southern Hemisphere. However,
comparatively it has minimal sea route transits in areas where ice may be
encountered.
 The ice regions are the Polar waters which include the following:
1. Arctic waters – means those waters which are generally located north of 600 N.
2. Antarctic waters – means those waters which are located south of 600 S.
3. Ice Covered waters – means waters in the polar region where local ice
conditions pose risk to safe passage of the ships.

Formation of Ice in Fresh Water:

 The loss of heat from a body of fresh water takes place mainly from the surface
exposed to the air.
 As the surface water cools, it becomes dense and sinks and is displaced by the
warmer less dense water from below setting in convection currents.
 The warm water having come on top will in turn be cooled, adding to the
convection currents till the entire body fo water attained a temperature of
about 40C.
 At this temperature, the upturning will cease. The cooling of the water below
40C will cause an increase in its volume and consequently decrease in its
density.
 The thin layer of FW staying on top can then rapidly be cooled down to the
freezing point and ice forms on the surface while the underlying water may still
be around 40C.

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Formation of Ice in Salt Water:

 The Arctic Ocean is composed of layers of water with different properties
(salinity and temperature) and different densities.
 The cooling of the ocean surface by a cold atmosphere makes the surface of
the water dense. This densification of water causes the colder water to sink
below setting up convection currents.
 This continues to happen till the water at the top reaches the freezing point
which is about -20C for sea water.
 The convection phenomenon is restricted only to the surface layer to a level of
about 100-150 metres below the surface.

Appearance of Ice / NEW ICE:

 As the ocean water begins to freeze, small needle-like ice crystals begin to
form. These crystals give an appearance like that of a soupy crystalline mixture
in the upper layers and are called as “Frazil Ice”. These ice crystals are also
called ice spicules.
 As the soup thickens; a thin film of ice forms. This film is strong enough to
withstand ripples with the waves passing beneath. When they form in large
quantities, they appear to have thickened sufficiently and the film so formed is
known as “Grease ice”. The grease ice has a matt appearance.
 The snow falling on this surface forms a “Slush” that may induce the sea
surface to thinking further
 The Frazil ice, or the Grease ice, or slush may sometimes break up under the
action of wind and waves to form “Shuga”.
 The Frazil ice, Grease ice, Slush and Shuga are classified as NEW ICE.

Types of Ice / Important Ice Definitions:

1. Brash Ice: Small pieces of floating ice, less than 2 m in length, broken off from
larger pieces.

2. Fast-Ice: A large ice-field which remains stationary, being stuck to the shore,
rock, shoals or other obstruction. It is called fast ice and it is stuck fast.

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3. Field-Ice: or Ice-field is a large area of floating ice, whose boundaries are not
visible even from the masthead. The floes in an ice-field can be of any size.

4. Floe: or Ice-floe is the name given to each single piece of floating sea-ice,
regardless of its size. Small floes may be as small as ten metres long, while a
huge floe may be a few miles across.

5. Hummock: An elevated part or ridge, formed on a floe due to pressure. When a

drifting ice-filed comes across a small obstruction, the rest of the ice-field
continues to drift but the obstructed part experiences the enormous pressure
of the ice from behind and this results in the formation of vertical ridges or
hummocks.

6. Ice-berg: A large mass of floating ice, having a height of atleast 5 metres above
the sea level. It could be of glacier or ice shelf origin.

7. Ice-blink: A whitish glare on low clouds near the horizon caused by the
reflection of light from a distant iceberg or ice-field.

8. Ice-Cake: The name given to a piece of floating sea-ice, which is less than 10
metres in length.

9. Ice-edge: The boundaries of an ice-field, beyond which open sea exists.

10. Ice-limits: The estimated position of the ice-edge during any given month or
period, based on past observations.

11. Land-ice: is the ice of land-origin. It is formed either on land or attached to land.

12. Pack-Ice: or drift ice means an area of any kind of sea-ice except fast ice. It is
usually old sea-ice, frozen sea water that is a year old or more, which froze and
formed elsewhere and later floated off (drifted) with the winds and currents.

13. Pancake-ice: it is newly formed ice of circular pieces of diameters between 0.3
to 3 m. The edges of their pieces may be raised due to collision with adjacent
pieces.

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14. Rotten Ice: Pieces of ice that are in the final state of melting, whereby they
appear riddled with holes.

15. Sludge of slush: The name given to a grey, gummy appearance of the sea,
owing to the presence of freshly formed ice-crystals on the surface.

16. First Year Ice: It is the further development of ice and is further classified as
thin, medium or thick depending on its thickness. Thin ice is upto 70cm,
Medium ice is about 70-120cm thick, and thick ice is of the order of 2m thick.

17. Second Year Ice: Old Ice that has survived only one summers melt, it is
designated as the second year ice at the onset of the next winter. It is upto 2.5
m thick.

18. Multi-year Ice: If the second year ice also survives the summer melting season,
the ice is called multi-year ice and over the years attains a maximum thickness
of 3.5m.

19. Odden Ice: In the Arctic, a key area where pancake ice forms and covers the
entire region is the Greenland Sea. This ice is known as Odden Ice.

20. Sea / River / Lake Ice: All ice originally formed in the sea water is called Sea Ice.
It can be attached to the shore (fast-ice) or drift freely under the action of
current, wind and tidal streams (drift ice or pack ice). River and lake ice is a
fresh water ice generally found in the Northern Hemisphere. It is generally in a
state of decay by the time it reaches the sea and hence is of little significance.

21. Glacier Ice: The ice in, or originating from glacier, whether on land or floating
on the sea as iceberg, bergy bits or growlers.

22. Glacier Tongue: It is the projecting seaward extension of a glacier, usually

afloat.

23. Nilas: A thin, elastic crust of ice easily bending on waves and swell and under
pressure, thrusting in a pattern of interlocking fingers. It has matt surface.

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Movement of Ice:
 The movement and speed of the movement of ice varies with:
1. Wind speed
2. Concentration of ice packs
3. Degree of ridging
4. Current and tides
 The pack ice moves under the influence of wind and current. The “Fast Ice” stays
immobile.
 The wind stress on the pack ice causes the floes to move in the downwind
direction.
 The Coriolis force causes the floes to deflect to right of the surface wind direction
in the NH and to the left in the SH.
 Movement of icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere is as follows:
1. The icebergs born on the East Coast of Greenland are carried South-westwards
by the East Greenland current.
2. After rounding off at the southern tip of Greenland, they join the icebergs born
on the Greenland’s West Coast. They are then carried Northward by the West
Greenland current.
3. From Baffin Bay, they are brought southward by the Labrador current. By the
time they reach the Grand Banks, they are one to two years old.
4. The volume of an average sized iceberg in this region is about 20,000 cubic
meters. Its rate of drift is erratic, being between 10-70 NM per day.
5. The International Ice Patrol advises ships to keep atleast 100 NM off from the
last reported position of an iceberg. This may mean a 8 hour detour for a vessel
bound for New York and a 24 Hour detour for a vessel bound for Canada or
Great Lakes Ports.
6. On meeting the Gulf stream, whose temperature is as high as 160C, the average
sized icebergs melt in one or two weeks. The larger ones may take as long as
two months.

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Ice Accretion on Ships:

The main factors which cause ice accretion on ships are:

1. Spray:

 Spray consists of small water droplets formed by mechanical breaking of water

when the waves hit the ship.
 Spray is then transported into air by the prevailing wind and cooled.
 The rate of cooling depends upon the time in the air, size of the droplets and
the air temperature.
 At low air temperatures (below 00C) the spray freezes into ice and settles on
the windward side of the ship.

2. Overflow of Water:

 The overflow of water occurs during rough seas.

 If the scuppers are free of ice, the entire amount of water will drain before it
has sufficient time to freeze on the ship’s deck.
 If for some reason, the water stayed on the deck, a whitish porous slush is
formed on deck which then grows rather rapidly with each over flow of water
on deck.

3. Super Cooled Fog and Rain Drops:

 At times, super cooled fog or rain drops deposit on the ship as snow.
 This kind of icing makes the work area, ladders, passages, etc very slippery
causing unsafe situation onboard the ship. However, it is not of great
significance.

4. Snow Fall:

 Snow falls and deposits on the ship causing ice to accrete on the ship.
 However, as long as the snow is dry it gets blown away by the wind. If the
snow becomes wet by spray, it quickly settles down on the ship and
contributes to very large increase in the weight of the ship.

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International Ice Patrol (IIP) :

The International Ice Patrol is recognized under Chapter V / Regulation 6 of SOLAS
titled ‘Ice Patrol Service’. This is what the regulation states:

1. “The Ice Patrol contributes to safety of life at sea, safety and efficiency of navigation and
protection of the marine environment in the North Atlantic. Ships transiting the region of
icebergs guarded by the Ice Patrol during the ice season are required to make use of the
services provided by the Ice Patrol.
2. The Contracting Governments undertake to continue an ice patrol and a service for study
and observation of ice conditions in the North Atlantic. During the whole of the ice season,
i.e. for the period from February 15th through July 1st of each year, the south-eastern,
southern and south-western limits of the region of icebergs in the vicinity of the Grand
Banks of Newfoundland shall be guarded for the purpose of informing passing ships of the
extent of this dangerous region; for the study of ice conditions in general; and for the
purpose of affording assistance to ships and crews requiring aid within the limits of
operation of the patrol ships and aircraft. During the rest of the year the study and
observation of ice conditions shall be maintained as advisable.
3. Ships and aircraft used for the ice patrol service and the study and observation of ice
conditions may be assigned other duties provided that such other duties do not interfere
with the primary purpose or increase the cost of this service.
4. The Government of the United States of America agrees to continue the overall
management of the ice patrol service and the study and observation of ice conditions,
including the distribution of information there from.
5. The terms and conditions governing the management, operation and financing of the Ice
Patrol are set forth in the Rules for the management, operation and financing of the North
Atlantic Ice Patrol appended to this chapter which shall form an integral part of this
chapter.
6. If, at any time, the United States and/or Canadian Governments should desire, to
discontinue providing these services, it may do so and the Contracting Governments shall
settle the question of continuing these services in accordance with their mutual interests.
The United States and/or Canadian Governments shall provide 18 months written notice to
all Contracting Governments whose ships entitled to fly their flag and whose ships
registered in territories to which those Contracting Governments have extended this
regulation benefit from these services before discontinuing providing these services.”

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Objective of International Ice Patrol service:

 In general, to contribute to safety of life at sea, safety of navigation and
protection of the marine environment.
 To monitor the extent of the iceberg danger near the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland.
 To provide limits of all known ice (LAKI) to the maritime community.

Necessity of the International Ice Patrol service

 The cold Labrador Current carries some icebergs south to the vicinity of the
Grand Banks and into the great circle shipping lanes between Europe and
major ports of the East Coast of US and Canada.
 In this area, the Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf Stream and the
temperature differences between the two water masses is about 200C, which
results in dense fog.
 The combination of icebergs, fog, severe storms, fishing vessels and busy
transatlantic shipping lanes makes this area most dangerous.
 While traversing this area, ships try to make their voyage as short and as
economical as possible. Therefore, ships in the vicinity of the ‘limits of all
known ice’ normally will pass just to south of this boundary.
 For vessels crossing the North Atlantic, the farther south the ice limits are, the
father the ship must travel to avoid the icebergs. A vessel passing through the
Ice patrol’s published ice limits, runs the risk of a collision with an iceberg.

Area of Coverage:
The area of coverage of the International Ice Patrol is clearly defined in the Appendix
to Chapter V of SOLAS. It does not extend North of 480N in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The total area of coverage is about 500,000 square nautical miles.

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Working of the International Ice Patrol:

 During the ice season i.e. between 15th Feb to 1st July each year, an ice
reconnaissance (survey) detachment (RECDET) is deployed usually comprising
of 11 air crew and 4 ice observers. It is deployed at St John’s, Newfoundland so
as to be closer to the ice area.
 A fixed wing Coast Guard aircraft conducts the primary reconnaissance work
for the Ice Patrol on the average of five days every other week during the ice
season.
 A normal reconnaissance flight is about 1700 miles long, lasts about 7 hours and
covers an area of about 30,000 square nautical miles.
 The flights are at about 2km height with a track spacing of 30 NM.
 They use Forward Looking Airborne Radar and Side Looking Airborne Radar
which allows good coverage and covers the ‘LAKI’ in about 4 flight days.
 Information concerning ice conditions is collected primarily from air
surveillance flights and ships operating in or passing through the ice area.
 Ships are requested to report the position and time of all ice sighted and make
sea surface temperature and weather reports to the IIP Operations Centre
every 6 hours when in the vicinity of Grand Banks.
 All the iceberg data is fed into a computer model at the IIP Operations Centre
along with the Ocean Current and wind data. Using this information, the model
predicts the drift of the icebergs.
 Every 12 hours, the predicted iceberg locations are used to estimate the limit of
all known ice (LAKI). This limit, along with a few of the more critical predicted
iceberg locations, is broadcast as an “Ice Bulletin” from radio stations around
the US, Canada, Europe and over the World Wide Web. This is for the benefit
for all vessels transiting the North Atlantic.
 In addition to the Ice Bulletin, a radio facsimile chart of the area, depicting the
limits of all known ice, is also broadcast twice daily.

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Success Rate of the International Ice Patrol service

 Except for the years of the two World Wars, the IIP has operated every ice
season since 1913.
 Since 1913, the IIP has amassed an unbelievable safety record with not a single
reported ship-iceberg collision, or loss of life or property due to collision with
an iceberg, outside the advertised limits of all known ice in the vicinity of the
Grand Banks. However, the potential for a catastrophe still exists.

Tracking Icebergs by marking them:

 It is not practical to track icebergs with special location markets. The IIP has
done experiments with marking icebergs and placing electronic position
beacons on them.
 These markers either got washed away or got dislodged from the iceberg.
 Other difficulties in placing markers on icebergs is because their shape and
orientation keeps changing as the icebergs breaks apart or part of it melts.
 As a result, the IIP sues the aerial reconnaissance as its primary method of
monitoring icebergs in order to provide the mariner with iceberg limit
information in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Other Ice Patrols:

1. Canadian Ice Services: They focus on the waters of the Canadian Economic Zone.
2. Danish Meteorological Institute: They report on ice conditions around Greenland.

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