Regional characteristics of sea ice thickness in Canadian shelf and Arctic Archipelago measured by Ground Penetrating Radar

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) measurements of sea ice thickness including undeformed ice and ridged ice were carried out in the central north Canadian Archipelago in spring 2010. Results have shown a significant spatial heterogeneity of sea ice thickness across the shelf. The undeformed multi-year fast ice of (2.05±0.09) m thick was investigated southern inshore zone of Borden island located at middle of the observational section, which was the observed maximum thickness in the field work. The less thick sea ice was sampled across a flaw lead with the thicknesses of (1.05±0.11) m for the pack ice and (1.24±0.13) m for the fast ice. At the northernmost spot of the section, the undeformed multi-year pack ice was (1.54±0.22) m thick with a ridged ice of 2.5 to 3 m, comparing to the multi-year fast ice with the thickness of (1.67±0.16) m at the southernmost station in the Prince Gustaf Adolf Sea.