Letter: Hydroelastic interactions between water waves and floating freshwater ice

Hydroelastic interactions between regular water waves and floating freshwater ice are investigated using laboratory experiments for a range of incident wave periods and steepnesses. It is shown that only incident waves with sufficiently long period and large steepness break up the ice cover and that the extent of breakup increases with increasing period and steepness. Furthermore, it is shown that an increasing proportion of the incident wave propagates through the ice-covered water as the period and steepness increase, indicating the existence of a positive feedback loop between the ice breakup and increased wave propagation.