title: Theory of the Sea Ice Thickness Distribution.
abstract: We use concepts from statistical physics to transform the original evolution equation for the sea ice thickness distribution g(h) from Thorndike et al. into a Fokker-Planck-like conservation law. The steady solution is g(h)=N(q)h(q)e(-h/H), where q and H are expressible in terms of moments over the transition probabilities between thickness categories. The solution exhibits the functional form used in observational fits and shows that for h≪1, g(h) is controlled by both thermodynamics and mechanics, whereas for h≫1 only mechanics controls g(h). Finally, we derive the underlying Langevin equation governing the dynamics of the ice thickness h, from which we predict the observed g(h). The genericity of our approach provides a framework for studying the geophysical-scale structure of the ice pack using methods of broad relevance in statistical mechanics.
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8109, USA.|Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toppaladoddi
authors.affiliation: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8109, USA.|Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, United Kingdom.|Nordita, Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Wettlaufer