Aircraft Measurements of Heat Fluxes Over Wind-Driven Coastal Polynyas in the Bering Sea

The first estimates of the average bulk heat transfer coefficient for Arctic sea ice are presented as a function of mean ice thickness. Turbulent heat flux measurements made by the NASA P-3 over the St. Lawrence Island polynya (SLIP) and Kuskokwim Bay in the Bering Sea during AMSR-Ice03 were used to estimate the values of the heat transfer coefficient
$C_ H$
. Estimates of ice thickness were made from the algorithm of Perovich using broadband albedos obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data. Plots of
$C_ H$
as a function of ice thickness showed a nearly linear relationship for ice thicknesses in the range of 0–14 cm in the polynyas. Previous estimates of
$C_ H$
for different cases over the SLIP were
$1.2 times 10^-3$
, but no estimates of ice thickness were available. These results will allow more accurate estimates of heat fluxes from the thin-ice areas of polynyas using satellite retrievals.