Experimental model of wave reflection and transmission by double floating plate

The outer edge of the sea ice cover, also known as marginal ice zone (MIZ), is the area where the interactions between ocean waves and sea ice take place. Ocean waves penetrate deep into the ice-covered ocean and impact the ice cover. Concomitantly, the ice cover attenuates the wave energy over distance, so that wave impacts die out eventually. The most heralded effect is the ability of waves to break up the ice cover into floes with diameters ranging from tens to hundreds of meters, with ice concentration at its maximum in the inner part MIZ, and minimum at the outer edges. Following the breakup, waves herd floes, introduce warm water and overwash the floes, thus accelerating ice melt, and cause the floes to collide. Collisions erode the floes and influence the large-scale deformation of the ice field via momentum transfer. Waves, therefore, have a substantial role in controlling the ice extent. Existing wave-ice models are based on traditional thin-plate theory. This is a linear energy-conserving approach that describe a simplify process based on one single floe of arbitrary length, which is known to underestimate wave attenuation during most energetic wave conditions. Here we report experimental tests to discuss the complexity of the of wave-ice interactions. Single and double thin plastic plate configurations were tested under the action of incident regular waves with varying amplitudes and periods. Particular attention was given to nonlinear effects responsible for wave dissipation. Results show that a double plate configuration is more effective in attenuating wave energy than a single floe, regardless side effects that may occur due to nonlinear fluid motion overwashing the plates.