Ice cover melting in a shallow river

Abstract

The heat transfer coefficients computed from field data on both ice cover melting and water temperature attenuation are higher than the values one would compute based on extrapolation of previous laboratory flume data. The computed heat transfer coefficients were relatively consistent when calculated from the water temperature decay data. Consistent results were also obtained with one set of very detailed ice cover melting data.The diurnal fluctuation in water temperature from the freezing point to values of 0.4–0.6 °C was associated with the incoming solar radiation and the open water surface area. The measured water temperature distribution beneath the ice cover at a particular cross section varied from 0.2 to 0.6 °C due to the influence of frazil ice and flow distribution. In the open water reaches the water temperature was essentially fully mixed vertically but lateral variation across the river ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 °C.The average daily melting of the ice cover often exceeded 5.0 cm and at some locations the rate was as high as 8 cm/d. The melt was not uniform across the section but was highly dependent upon the flow conditions, velocity, and depth. The ice cover melting for this year only occurred during the daylight hours as the air temperatures dropped below 0 °C at night and the water temperature likewise decayed to its freezing point.