JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 85, NO.

C2, PAGES 1095-1100, FEBRUARY 20, 1980

Long-Period Gravity Waves in Ice-Covered Sea

HOWARD F. BATES AND LEWIS H. SHAPIRO

Geophysical
Institute, Universityof Alaska, Fairbanks,Alaska 99701

A floating ice sheetunder compressivestressis modeledas a laterally compressedthin linearly elastic

plate, floatingon a compressible liquid of constantdepth over a rigid bottom.This systemis analyzedas
a wave guide for plane waves. Sinusoidaltraveling waves having vertical planes of constantphase are
soughtfor the impulseresponseof the system.Two bandsof gravity wavesare found: (1) flexural and (2)
floating-membrane.The two bandsjoin at the critical frequencyof the system,at which the impulse re-
sponseis unbounded.The long-periodfloating-membranegravity wavesexist at all frequenciesbelow
the flexural gravity wave band. For long-periodgravity wavesthe coupling force betweenplate and liq-
uid is found to be a Hooke's Law force; the effectivefoundation modulus is directly proportional to the
differencebetweenthe squareof the phasevelocityof a wave in the floating-platesystemand that of a
free-surfacegravity wave at the samewavelength.The analogyof an elasticplate supportedon an elastic
foundation is apt for theselong-periodwaves.It is concludedthat the impulsive releaseof stored elastic
energy when the compressedice breaks suppliesadequateenergy to produce measurablelong-period
wavesin floatingice. The resultssuggestthat long-periodwave motion accompanieslateral compression
of the ice sheet;hencewave measurementsmay provide a meansof detectingthe buildup of widespread
compressivestressin the ice.

INTRODUCTION To study the general behavior of wave propagation in a

The basic method for finding the characteristicsof gravity stressedfloating plate, it is sufficientto examine the impulse
wave propagation in a floating ice sheet is almost 1 century response,becauseit contains all of the characteristicvalues
old [Greenhill,1887].The ice is assumedto be an elasticplate (eigenvalues)that are possiblefor any physicalsystem.That is
floating on a liquid. The essenceof the method is that the the approach of this paper.
wave equation is solved for the liquid, subject to boundary LINEAR THEORY
conditionsspecifiedat the top surfaceby Bernoulli'sLaw and
the equation of motion of an elasticplate. For his solution, OUr technique is to approximate a floating ice sheet as a
Greenhill calculatedthe dispersionrelation of the systemfor a losslessthin linearly elastic infinite plate of constantthickness
sinusoidal displacement as a forced response. Subsequent that is floating on a perfectly compressibleliquid of constant
workers to use Greenhill's formulation are Ewing and Crary depth.The plate is under a lateral compression. This compres-
[1934], Hunkins [1962], and Wadhams[1973]. Nevel [1970a, b] sive stressis assumedto be due primarily to wind blowing
obtained two-dimensional rectangular and cylindrical wave acrossrough ice, although this is not a crucial assumption.
solutionsdirectly from the differential equations of the sys- The coupling between wind and ice increaseswith the square
tem. of the wind speedand is suchthat a 5-10 m s-• (10-20 kn)
The aims of this paper are threefold: (1) to introduce the wind acting over 100-250 km of 1.0-m thick ice producesa
condition of lateral compressioninto the study of long-wave laterally compressivestressin the rangeof 3.5-35 kPa (0.5-5.0
propagationin a linearly elasticplate floating on a compres- psi) [Seifertand Langleben,1972;Langleben,1972].
sible liquid, (2) to find a generalsolutionfrom which a linear Although he did not describehis method in this manner,
transformationyields the solutionfor any arbitrary boundary the basicnotion behind Greenhilœs [1887] approachis that the
and initial conditionsand driving force, and (3) to present a floating plate systemactsas a wave guide, for which the prop-
simply obtained linear solution from which the behavior of agatingmedium is the liquid, the lower boundary is rigid, and
long-periodwaves propagatingin a floating plate can be eas- the floating boundary is elastic.Thus the techniqueof solving
ily deduced. the problem is to find general solutionsto the wave equation
The general solution soughtis the plane-wave impulse re- in the liquid that will satisfy the boundary conditions.The
sponse,a solutionthat containsplane wavesas a set of ortho- method that is used is to find plane-wave solutionsthat simul-
gonal functionsarising from a 8 function applied to the plate taneously satisfy the equation of motion of a stressedelastic
as an exciting force. The solution to any particular floating plate and Bernoulli'sLaw at the plate-liquid interface.
plate problem involving an arbitrary driving function applied Free-Surface Waves
to the plate and given initial and boundary conditions can
then be found from the impulse responseby using the super- The first step is a brief review of the classicalderivation of
position integral [e.g., Skudrzyk, 1968, p. 312, equation small amplitude, irrotational gravity wavesin the free-surface
(11.56)]. sea. Because the motion is irrotational, it can be derived from
An illustrative example of such a linear transformation is a potential function. Classically,the velocity potential 4, has
the linear systemfor which t is the only independentvariable. been usedsuchthat [e.g.,Lamb, 1945;Stoker, 1957]the veloc-
If the impulseresponseof the systemis denotedh(t), the re- ity vectorof the liquid is the gradientof the potential function
sponser(t) of that systemto an arbitrary excitatione(t) is the (see (A 1)).
convolution of h(t) with e(t)--the one-dimensional super- The starting point for the derivation of water waves is the
positionintegral r(t) - h(t),e(t). wave equation [e.g., Meyer and Neumann, p. 12, equation
(1.35)] for the velocity potential in a perfectly (lossless)com-
Copyright¸ 1980by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion. pressiblefluid.
Paper number 9C 1517. 1095
0148-0227/80/009C- 1517501.00
1096 BATES AND SHAPIRO: WAVES IN ICE-COVERED SEA

I 02•b the plane-wave responseof a compressibleliquid of infinite

c2at2 --V2•, (1)
horizontal extent that is bounded by a stressedelasticplate on
one horizontal surface and a rigid wall on the other. Thus the
Most authors assume for simplicity that water is in- techniqueis to find thoseplane-wave solutions(4) that simul-
compressible[e.g., Greenhill,1887;Lamb, 1945;Stoker, 1957], taneouslysatisfy the plate equation and Bernoulli's Law.
thereby having an infinite soundspeed;they thereforeuse not (In a physicalsituationthe plate will be finite. Plane-wave
the wave equation but rather set the Laplacian of the velocity solutionsfor the finite floating plate are constructedfrom the
potentialto zeroto satisfythe equationof continuityin an in- solutionsto the infinite floating plate by accountingfor the fi-
compressible liquid. However,in this paperthe wave equation nite size of the systemas boundary conditionson the super-
in the liquid is used to emphasizethe wave-guidenature of positionintegral. Similarly, any initial conditionsare taken as
the problem.The liquid is therebyallowedto be compressible. zero in the derivation of the plane-waveimpulseresponse;any
A substantialsimplificationof (1) is possible,becausethe nonzero initial condition for a physical problem is likewise
solutionsoughtis the dispersionrelation for small-amplitude taken into account in the superpositionintegral.)
plane traveling waves whose surfaceof constantphase is a For vertical displacementq the classicalequationof motion
vertical plane, taken in this caseto be normal to the x axis. of a thin losslesslinearly elastic plate driven by external
The original three-dimensionalcoordinate system (x and z stressesp• normal to the plate is [e.g.,Skudrzyk,1968,p. 241,
horizontal and y vertical) thereforereducesto the two-dimen- equation (8.1)]
sional systemof x (horizontal) and y (vertical).
Bernoulli's Law is one of the boundary conditions on the
system.In its generalform it is nonlinear.On any surfacein a DVnn + ph• =p• (8)
gravity field the following relation holds:
For thisproblemthe drivingstresses pj on the plate (positive
P + u. u + + = constant (2) upward) are assumedto be composedof three parts:(1) the
p •- gY -•- wavespropagatingin the liquid couplea verticalstress p• onto
the plate, (2) the plate is under a lateral compression that pro-
A plane wave propagatingalong the x axis in a liquid is as- ducesa vertical loading stressP2,and (3) the stressP3 is an im-
sumed, for small amplitudes, to produce a sinusoidalvertical
pulse.
displacementq of the surface. In the floating-platesystem(also termedjust 'floating plate'
r/= r/ocos(oot-- kx) (3) below) a gravity wave traveling in the liquid exertsa force on
the plate. This coupling force is found from the linearized
The general solution to (1) for small sinusoidal traveling form of Bernoulli'sLaw (2); the variable part p of the pressure
waves (3) for a compressibleliquid over a rigid bottom (Sto- on any surface is
ker [1957, p. 45, equation (3.2.1)] illustratesthe velocitypoten-
tial for an incompressibleliquid) is
P= --Pl-•--gPlY (9)
• = A coshk[3•O,+ d) sin (wt- kx) (4)
where •, the compressibilityfactor, is defined as
(The constantpart of (2) representsa hydrostaticpressurethat
does not affect the wave-propagation characteristicsof the
systemand thus is taken to be zero in (9).)
For long-periodgravity wavesthe interfacepressure,given
by (AI2) in the appendix,is the componentp• of the stresson
Bernoulli's Law (2) must be satisfiedas a boundary condi- the plate. Thus
tion at the water surface. The classicaltechnique for accom- P• = -Po•l (10)
plishing this is to evaluate the time derivative of (2) on the
surfacey = 0 for a constantpressureat the fluid surface.After where the plate-liquid couplingcoefficientPois definedas
being linearized (by droppingthe second-ordervelocity term),
the time derivative of Bernoulli's Law evaluated on the sur-
face y = 0 is
Po----P
l-- • (ll)
The quantity v• in (l l) is the free-surfacephasevelocityfor

0----•o2•b
+gO•y
•] y-----O (6) the same wavelength as is propagatingin the floating-plate
system.
The result, modified by the compressibilityfactor fiw of the If v • vw,then Po > O, and the coupling stressp• in (l l) is
liquid, is the usualdispersionrelation [e.g.,Stoker, 1957,p. 45, oppositelydirectedfrom the displacement,/of the plate, in
equation (3.2.2)] for the phase velocity of gravity waves in which casethe stressp• actsas a Hooke's Law restoringforce
open water of constant depth. on the plate. Hence for Po > 0 the floating-platesystemis
analogousto an elasticplate on an elasticfoundation;Po is
g then the effective modulus of elasticity of the foundation and
vw
2= •w• tanh
•kd (7) is proportional to the differencebetween the squaredphase
velocities vwand v.
For the casev -- v• the couplingforce betweenthe plate and
Floating-Plate Theory the liquid vanishes.In that instancethe systemis in reso-
The floating plate is included by bringing the equation of nance, becauseeach element freely vibrateswith the same fre-
motion of an elasticplate into the problem as a boundary con- quencyand phasevelocity.
dition on the top surfaceof the liquid. The solutionsoughtis Finally, in the case v • vw,for which Po < O, the coupling
 BATES AND SHAPIRO: WAVES IN ICE-COVERED SEA 1097

force acts in the same direction as the displacement.In this pov4

case the coupled stressincreasesthe displacement,which in 0.._N(s,)
-- s•
4+Y2•
phSi2 -•- D
(19)
turn increasesthe stress.(This processseemsto require that
for Po< 0 the liquid supportsa force in tension,somethingnot There is one dispersionrelation (19) for eachvalue of phase
physicallypossible.However, becausethe long period waves velocity v, and each is biquadratic so that the eigenvaluessi
discussedin this paper occur only at frequenciesfor which are obtained from the quadratic formula. The two positive-
Po > 0, the question is not consideredfurther.) imaginary (upper half plane) eigenvaluesSl and s2of N(s•) are
The buckling componentnormal to the sheetbecauseof lat- as follows (the negative frequencyvalues henceforthare ig-
eral compressionis componentp2 of the loading stress.If S,, is nored):
a constantcompressiveforce per unit width normal to the x
2[Ph• 1/2
axis, the componentof stressacting to produce vertical mo-
tion is [e.g.,Jaeger, 1964,equation(6.7a)] S2--joJf--jv
•-•} [1+(1p2h2v4¾4
4Dpo
.11/2]
] 1/2 (20)
and
02•/
P2---S•Ox
2 (12) 112
An impulse of unit stressat zero time and distanceis the 4Dp•o
.11/,211/2
p2h2v4¾4
] (21)
third driving componentP3.Thereforefor plane wavespropa- The last stepin the derivationof the impulseresponseis the
gatingparallel to the x axis,the floating-plateequationof mo- computationof the coefficientsAi of the wave functionsin
tion (8) becomes (18). Each coefficientAi is the residueof H(s) evaluatedat its
correspondingpole. The coefficientsA I and A2 corresponding
•
'•-•ph
04T•
OX4 DOt•02'!•
2 '•-
Sx 0•1 Po
-•- 0-• '•-
1
•8(t,
x) (13) to the eigenvaluesst and s2 in the real (positive-imaginary)
frequencydomain are
As (3) shows,time and spaceare linearly relatedin the ar- v2 1
gumentof a plane-wavefunctionthroughthe phasevelocity. = -- (22)
Thus (13) can be reduced to a set of ordinary differential
/11 2(p2h2v4¾
4--4Dpo)
1/2
Sl
equations by combining these quantities to yield what is and
termed the retarded time ß in wave propagation theory [e.g.,
v2 1
Ewing et al., 1957]. - -- (23)
x
/12
-- 2(p2h2v4¾4
_ 4Dpo)1/2
S2
•'=t- -- (14)

When the retarded time transformation is made, (13) be- Discussionof Linear Model
comesthe reduced floating-plate equation The objective of this sectionis to find the physically pos-
siblelong-wavesolutionsto the linear model and to apply the
d4;] phv4T
a de;] pov4 V4
-•'
d• + D d'r
2+ • •/= • 80') (15) resultsto a representativeice sheet.
The eigenvaluesof the plane-wave impulseresponsefor the
where floating plate are given by (20) and (21). Plane wavesare rep-
resentedby undamped sinusoidsso that physicallypossibleei-
Sx genvaluesare only those that are purely imaginary. The task
X2--1+phv2 (16) therefore is to find the imaginary eigenvalues.
When the plate-liquid coupling coefficientPo, a function of
Although it is written as a singleequation, (15) representsa
phasevelocity, is positivesuchthat
set of ordinary differential equations, one for each possible
value of phasevelocity v. In each reducedfloating-plateequa- 4Dpo= p2h2v4•4 (24)
tion the phasevelocity is a specificnumber so that each differ-
the inner radicalsin (20) and (21) vanish,and the two result-
ential equation is linear with constant coefficients.Laplace
ing eigenvaluesSl and s2 are equal. The wave amplitudes/11
transformationthereforeprovidesa particularlysimpleway of
(22) and/12 (23) are unbounded at this point; for this reason
solvingthe set of equationsrepresentedby (15).
the characteristicfrequency correspondingto this eigenvaluve
The Laplace transformof (15) (for zero initial conditions)is
has been termed the 'critical frequency' of the system [e.g.,
Nevel, 1970a, Eyre, 1977].
S4'4-T2v2ph
s2+ H(s)
D =• (17) The variable part of the plate-liquid couplingforce vanishes
for Po - 0 (the hydrostaticpart remainsbut doesnot enter the
and the plane-wave impulse responser/(,) is the inverseLa- problem). The eigenvalueSl vanishesfor zero coupling,so the
place transform of H(s): characteristic frequency correspondingto zero coupling is
zero for the eigenvaluesSl. For negativePo,(21) showsthat the
•1(*)= L-'[H(s)] = A,es,*+ A2e•2*+ A3e•3*+ /14es4•' (18)
eigenvalues$1 are real; the eigenvaluesSl for negativePo are
An attractive feature of Laplace transform analysisis that thereforediscardedas beingnonphysical.For Pogreaterthan
the inverseLaplacetransform(18) is automaticallythe sumof the critical value, analysisof (21) showsthat the eigenvalueSl
four traveling wave functions.The eigenvaluessi are the poles is complex; the resulting eigenfunctionis not a plane wave.
of the impulseresponseH(s). For simplicity,when set to zero, Thus the critical frequencyis an upper boundingvalue for the
the polynomial in s in (17) is defined as N(&)•the dispersion set of characteristicfrequenciesSl.
relation for wave propagationin the floating plate The eigenvaluesSl representplane-wave solutionsonly for
1098 BATES AND SHAPIRO: WAVES IN ICE-COVERED SEA

positive œo less than the critical value. The corresponding pressivestress.To produce illustrative numerical results,the
characteristicfrequenciesextend from zero upward to the crit- following valuesare used:d -- 50 m, h = 1.5 m, o = 0.30, flw --
ical frequency for increasingœo> 0. fl- 1.00,and D = [Eh3/12(l - 02)].
Expanding(21) for smallœois instructivefor identifying the The valuescomputedfrom (28) were usedto find the criti-
waves represented by eigenvaluesSl. If the corresponding cal periodsand speedsthat are shown in Table 1. To account
characteristic
frequenciesare labeledcog, for the probable noncontinuity of ice sheetsin the polar sea,
we use valuesof Young's modulus that range over an order of
magnitude downward from approximately that obtained from
cog¾[ph]1- • (25) the speedof sound in old sea ice [Weeks and Assur, 1967].
so that the elasticmodulus of the plate is absentto first order. DISCUSSION
For small coupling coefficientœo> 0 the plate acts as a non-
elasticfloating membranewith mass.The band of long-period On two occasionsduring short periods of observationsa
waves below the critical frequency is therefore termed the tide guage operated by the University of Alaska under the
landfast ice near Point Barrow, Alaska, recorded vertical
floating-membrane gravity-wave band.
The band of eigenvaluess2 extends from the critical fre- waves of several centimeters amplitude and of the order of
quency upward. At the critical frequencythe couplingcoeffi- 600 s period. During one event, stresstransducersthat had
cientœohas its maximum value for physicallypossiblewaves. been implanted in the ice indicated increasingcompressive
stress associated with these waves. In the other instance, no
As œodecreases,the eigenvaluess2increasealong the real fre-
quency (imaginary) axis of the s plane. The variable part of stresstransducerswere operating;however, compressivestress
is indicated because the ice moved some 10 m onto the beach
the force exertedby the liquid on the plate vanishesfor œo= 0,
for which s2is the finite resonantfrequency.At this resonance as the waves reached their recorded maximum amplitude.
the phasevelocity in the floating-platesystemis equal to that Hunkins [1962] reported that long-periodwavesaccompanied
in a free-surfaceliquid at the same wavelength.Hence at the winds exceeding5 m s-! (10 kn) over relatively continuous
resonantfrequencyCOr the plate in effectvanishesfrom the liq- floating sea ice.
uid. These events imply an associationbetween long-period
The eigenvaluess2are imaginary for negativeœo,and Ewing waves in the ice coveredsea and rising compressivestressesin
and Crary [1934], Hunkins [1962], Nevel [1970a, b] and Wad- the ice sheet.This in turn suggeststhat a meansmust exist by
hams [1973] all interpret them as yielding physically possible which substantialenergyis coupledthroughthe ice to the wa-
waves.As is noted above, however, we suggestthat this inter- terfromthewindasit produces thecompressive stress.
(Cal-
pretation needs examination, a procedure that is beyond the culations following Robin [1963] show that long-periodwave
scopeof this paper. energy in the ice covered sea travels primarily in the water.
For smallPo> 0 the first order approximationto the eigen- This result supportsthe wave-guidemodel of the system.)
We suggestthat wave energyis introducedinto the ice cov-
valuess• yieldsfor the characteristic frequenciesco/
ered sea by the impulsive breaking of ice during the produc-
tion of pressureridgesresultingfrom compressivestress.Dur-
co/= v: (26) ing the breaking of the ice in the ridging process,blocksof ice
are abruptly displacedupward and downward, with the en-
The bandsof characteristic frequencies co/nearthe resonant ergy necessaryfor this motion suppliedby the impulsivere-
frequencyfor a floating plate are very nearly thoseof the flex- leaseof storedelasticenergy.To maintain hydrostaticequilib-
ural wavesthat would exist in a freely vibrating plate. How- rium, approximately 8 times the volume of the ice that is
ever, becausethe phase velocity and wave length of these displacedupward must be displaceddownward. The pumping
waves for small Po • 0 closelyapproximatethosefor gravity action representedby the abrupt vertical motion of a sub-
wavesin the liquid, we term the eigenvaluess• for Po• 0 to be stantial volume of ice transforms a fraction of the released
the band of flexural gravity wavesfor a floatingplate. elasticenergy into wave motion in the ice coveredsea.Calcu-
The remainder of this paper is devoted to discussingthe lations after Robin [1963] and Parmerter and Coon [1973]
productionand propagationof the floating-membranegravity
waves.The upper bound of the band is the critical frequency
cocfor which the inner radical in (21) vanishes,yielding the TABLE 1. Critical CharacteristicsListed for Several Compressive
two relations Stresses

Stress, kPa

and
COc
= Vc2¾
• oh)
!/2 70 35 0

6.00 X 10 s*
Period, s 11.2 11.5 11.8
4Dpo= o2h2vc4'y
4 (27)
Speed,m s-! 16.0 16.3 16.6
1.90 x 109
The combinationof (7), (11), and (27) leadsto a transcen- Period, s 15.1 15.5 16.0
dental equation whose only unknown--the critical wave- Speed,m s-! 18.7 18.9 19.1
length hc•iS easily found numerically. For fi = fiw = 1 6.00 X 10 9
Period, s 22.4 23.1 23.9
Speed,m s-1 20.6 20.7 20.8
•c4- 16•r3D 2•rd
Xc- 16•r4D
phg-••-XccøthPtg (28)
*Young'smodulus(N m-2) rangesover an order of magnitude
downward from approximately the value derived from the speed of
In the final part of this sectionwe apply the resultsof the soundin ice. The higheststressis near the upper stresslimit for ridg-
linear model to a floating sheetof sea ice under lateral com- ing eventsin pack ice.
 BATES AND SHAPIRO: WAVES IN ICE-COVERED SEA 1099

show that the power flow necessaryto supply the energy in use the negative gradient [e.g., Lamb, 1954; Meyer and Neu-
wavesof a few centimetersamplitude is a fraction of the total mann, 1972]. Either formulation yields the same final result.)
needed to build, for example, 10 or more average pressure For the systemto be linear, the vertical component of ve-
ridgesover a few hours.Thus sufficientenergy,and a means locity must be continuousacrossthe interface(this condition
of couplingit to the water, are indeedavailableduringperiods is a standard one that is applied in all of the cited work). The
of high stress. vertical component of the plate velocity is the time derivative
Hunkins [1962] reportedthat the long-periodwaveshe ob- •/of (3), thevertical displacementof the neutral surfaceof the
served had amplitudes that appeared to fit an inverse fre- plate.
quency dependence.Away from the critical frequency,(22)
•1-" -'1o w sin (wt - kx) (A2)
showsthat the amplitude of the long-periodwave functionsin
the impulseresponsevariesinverselywith frequency.This in- From (A2) the vertical componentuyof the velocityof any
verse frequencydependencearosebecausethe driving force parcel of liquid is
was assumedto be an impulsein force on the elasticplate. If,
for example, the driving function was an impulse in plate ve-
Uy=oy
0• (A3)
locity (a stepin plate displacement),the inversefrequencyde-
pendencedisappears.(This is shown by differentiating(20),
At the interface (A2) and (A3) must be equal so that
becausethe responseof any linear systemto the derivativeof
a driving functionis the derivativeof the responseto the driv- uy-- •/ (A4)
ing function.)Thus the stressedfloating-platesolutiondevel-
at
oped here and Hunkins' [1962] observationstaken together
suggestthat the driving force on laterally compressedice is
basically impulsive in nature. This regult, if confirmed by
more observations,greatly simpriflessolutionsinvolving the Combining (A2)-(A4) and (4) yields
superpositionintegral,becauseonly the initial and boundary -W7o sin (wt - kx) = Ak/3 sinh k/3(• + d) sin (wt - kx) (A5)
conditions will have to be considered to obtain a solution for
an existing ice sheet. where
In summary, two adjoining frequency bands of traveling
gravity wavesform the plane-waveimpulseresponseof a loss-
lesslinearlyelastic
platethatislaterally
compressed
andfloat-
ing on a perfectly compressibleliquid. For small coupling
forces the set of long-period waves representsfloating-mem- This entire derivation holds only for waves whose ampli-
brane gravity waves, and the shorter period set represents tude is very much smaller than the depth of liquid. Thus the
plate displacementterm in the argument of the hyperbolic
flexural gravity waves.The floating-membranegravity waves
can exist at all frequenciesbelow the critical frequency, the sine is negligible and is dropped. The constantof integration
lower bound of the band of flexural waves. For long wave- A in (4) is thereforeapproximately
lengthsthe floating-membranegravity wavesare, to first or-
der, independentof the elasticpropertiesof the plate; hence A -- - V*/o (A7)
fi sinh k/3a
for long-periodwavesthe plate actsas a nonelasticmembrane
with mass.Lateral compressionof the plate slightly reduces Bernoulli'sLaw (9) is now satisfiedon the interfacey = ,/to
the critical frequency.The impulsivebreaking causedby the obtain the pressurein the liquid at the interface.(The hydro-
lateral compressioncan produce long-period gravity waves. staticpressureof the plate is ignored,becauseit doesnot lead
During periods of high compressivestressthe stored elastic to wave solutionsof (1).) From (4) the time derivative of the
energythat is releasedduringbreakingis sufficientto produce velocity potential evaluated at the interface is
measurablelong-period waves in the floating ice.
These resultssuggestthat an easily implemented means of O•
Ot
= wAcosh
kfi(,/+
d)cos
(wt- kx) (A8)
detecting widespreadhigh compressivestressin the ice may
be to measurelong-periodwave motion in the ice coveredsea Again, the small-waveapproximationis made to the hyper-
with a sensitivetide gauge.Such a systemmight provide early boric cosine,after which (A7), (A8), and (3) are combined to
warning of destructiveice movementsagainstoffshorestruc- obtain
tures and shore installations in the Arctic Ocean.
Orb v2k
APPENDIX
Ot- [8tanh
kfid
rl (A9)
The plate-liquid couplingforce is derivedin this appendix.
In this paper we are concernedonly with long-periodgrav-
A key result to be shown is that the direction of the force
ity waves in relatively shallow water. Calculations made for
changesat some frequency.
Table 1 show that the phase velocity of such waves in a float-
When the usual assumptionof small amplitude irrotational
ing plate is at most severaltensof metersper second.Because
flow is made, the velocity u of any parcel in the liquid can be
the speedof soundin water is approximately1.5 km s-•, the
represented as the gradient of a potential q•commonly
compressibilityfactorsfi in (A7) or fiwin (7) differ from unity
termed the velocity potential. Hence
only in the fourth decimal place. Thus for the long-period
u = v• (A•) waves of concernto this paper, we set the compressibilityfac-
tors to unity in (A9)
(In this derivation we use the positive gradient, as, for ex-
ample, do Greenhill[1887] and Stoker [1957]. Other workers fl=flw= 1 (A10)
1100 BATES AND SHAPIRO: WAVES IN ICE-COVERED SEA

Relation (A9) is then simplified by introducing (7) to re- vw horizontal phasevelocity of plane wavesin free-surface
move the hyperbolictangent. liquid.
Po plate-liquidcouplingcoefficient.
o• v2 Sx laterally compressiveforce per unit width.
- 2g•t (A11)
8t
Acknowledgments. We thank W. D. Harrison, G. A. Gislason,and
Combining(A 11) with (9) yieldsthe desiredsolution(10) of R. C. Metzner for their stimulating discussions.This researchwas
Bernoulli's Law: supportedby the National Oceanicand AtmosphericAdministration
under contractNOAA 03-5-022-55 and by the Division of Polar Pro-
grams,National ScienceFoundation,undergrantDPP 78-01806.
P -- -pt g 1 - • (A12)
REFERENCES

The phasevelocitiesin (AI 1) and (A12) pertainto the same Ewing, M., and A. P. Crary, Propagation of elastic waves in ice, 2,
wave number k, and henceto the samewavelength•, but dif- Physics,5, 181, 1934.
ferent frequencies. Ewing, W. M., W. S. Jardetsky,and F. Press,Elastic Wavesin Lay-
ered Media, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1957.
The sign of the pressurep at the interfacethereforecan be
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pt density of liquid.
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o Poisson's ratio.
•t vertical displacement. (Received August 24, 1978;
•to wave amplitude. revised October 11, 1979;
E Young's modulus. acceptedOctober 16, 1979.)