• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.527-532
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• 2014

The thickness of Arctic sea ice is a particularly significant factor in Arctic shipping and other ice-related research areas such as scientific sea ice investigations and Arctic engineering. In this study, the relation between the measured sea ice thickness and freeboard on the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas during the 2010 and 2011 Arctic cruise of the icebreaking research vessel "Araon" were considered. An assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium was used to estimate the ice thickness as a function of the freeboard. Then, to examine the degree of error, a sensitivity analysis of the thickness estimation of the sea ice was conducted. The error in the density and depth of the snow and the error in the density of the seawater were subordinate parameters, but the density of the ice and the freeboard were the primary parameters in the error calculation. The presented relation formula showed fairly close agreement between the calculated and measured results at a freeboard of >0.24 m.