ASA 126th Meeting Denver 1993 October 4-8

1pAO6. Monitoring thermal fracturing in ice: The relation to ice stress and strength.

P. J. Stein

Scientific Solutions, Inc., 47 Aster Ct., Nashua, NH 03062

J. K. Lewis

Atlantic Appl. Res. Corp., Long Beach, MS 39560

W. B. Tucker

U. S. Army Cold Regions Res. and Eng. Lab., Hannover, NH 03755

Here observations of thermally induced ice fracturing in the Arctic are summarized. Thermally induced fractures may be an important phenomena in understanding ice strength. Sets of observations of event locations using hydrophone and geophone arrays along with meteorological and ice stress measurements are discussed. Data are reviewed for both first and multiyear ice floes. Stress observations show that smooth first year ice can support much higher tensile forces. The event location data indicate that indeed first year ice is much less susceptible to thermal fracturing. This indicates that smooth first year ice is in some manner stronger than multiyear ice.