UCT SHARC Buoy V3.0: Waves-in-ice measurement in the Antarctic MIZ

Noyce, Michael

UCT SHARC Buoy V3.0: Waves-in-ice measurement in the Antarctic MIZ

Thesis / Dissertation

2024

Abstract

The Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone is an area of key scientific interest as the climatic processes in the region affect the global climate. Sea ice in particular has been difficult to model due to its high variability, as a result there is a pressing need to collect in situ data to further develop and validate models of the annual and seasonal sea ice cycles. The UCT SHARC Buoy has been developed to collect and measure in situ wave data that characterises the interaction between ocean waves and sea ice. It aims to do this accurately and with a platform that is cost-effective enough to deploy at scale. To achieve this, the use of low-cost inertial measurement units (IMUs) to measure wave activity on a mock ice floe was validated in a controlled wave tank setting. Following this, the existing SHARC Buoy instrument was upgraded to collect and process high-frequency IMU data and tested for reliability. Finally, the devices were deployed and collected on the SCALE Winter Cruise 2022. The time series were analysed to verify that the instrument's measurements and local calculation of wave parameters were accurate. Several inertial phenomena were noted in the inertial time series and characterised, specifically the collisions between ice floes which are of importance in the region

Keywords

Engineering

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