A wave-ice interaction model for the marginal ice zone (MIZ) is reported, involves both the attenuation of ocean surface waves by sea ice and the breaking of the ice by waves. It is specifically designed to embed-ice interactions in an operational ice/ocean model for the first time. We different methods of including the wave forcing, and different for determining if they cause floes to break. We also investigate and the effects of using various attenuation models, finding that predicted widths are quite sensitive to the choice of model. Additional sensitivity are performed on: (i) different parameterizations of the floe size (FSD), including the initial FSD used; (ii) the properties of the field; and (iii) the sea ice properties such as concentration, thickness breaking strain. Results are relatively insensitive to FSD parameterization vary noticeably and systematically with its initial configuration, as they with properties (ii-iii). An additional, somewhat surprising sensitivity, is degree of influence of the numerical scheme that performs wave attenuation advection. This is because a naive implementation of spatial and temporal can cause the waves to be over-attenuated, leading to a of the predicted MIZ width by a substantial factor. Example intended to represent conditions in the Fram Strait in 2007, which reanalyzed wave and ice model data, are shown to conclude the results. These compare favorably to estimates of MIZ width using concentrations from remotely-sensed passive microwave images.
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Williams et al. (2012) studied this question.