Models for the closure of a coastal latent heat polynya

"Polynya flux models" approximate the evolution of a coastal latent heat polynya by assuming that the position of the polynya edge (P) is determined by a balance between the flux of frazil ice arriving at P and the flux of consolidated new ice removed at P by the offshore ice sheet. If the fluxes are equal, then the polynya is in equilibrium; if they are not, then the polynya is in a state of evolution.

Flux models have mostly been used to investigate polynya opening events. In this talk however, we first summarise our findings concerning the closure due to an onshore wind stress of a coastal polynya which lies adjacent to an infinite straight coastline, and thus is effectively one-dimensional. In particular, we note that for one-dimensional polynyas, opening times typically exceed closing times. This asymmetry occurs since the two processes governing polynya evolution, frazil ice pile-up at the ``convergence boundary'' (i.e. the consolidated ice during opening or the stationary coastal wall during closing) and transport of consolidated new ice from the polynya, are in competition during opening, but complement one another during closing. We then address the closure of a fully two-dimensional coastal polynya lying adjacent to a straight coastline of finite extent, and identify parameter regimes for which the one-dimensional asymmetry in opening and closing times carries over to the two-dimensional case.