The ice that covers the Arctic Ocean breaks up and form ice ridges. These ice ridges can constitute almost half of the total sea ice area in the Arctic, yet this is the least studied part of the ice pack. To fully understand the developments in the Arctic, it is imperative to better understand the role of sea ice ridges in the Arctic sea-ice system. 

A new research study that has now been published in the journal The Cryosphere uses rare, repeated underwater multibeam sonar surveys to measure ice thickness and compare the thickness reduction of different ice types during summer melt, that were collected during the MOSAiC drift in 2020. The study lead by Evgenii Salganik with contributions from CRiceS-researchers Morven Muilwijk and Mats Granskog, also investigated how the shape of ridged ice influences how ice melts. 

The findings show that deeper, steeper, and narrower ridges melt the fastest. This work highlights areas that warrant future observation-model development for improved representation of ridge-related sea-ice processes in models.