Modelling sea-ice thermodynamics in BALTEX-BASIS

In this paper, we present the results of a one-dimensional, thermodynamic sea-ice model applied to the Baltic Air-Sea-Ice Study (BASIS) field data. In general, the model results are in good agreement with the measurements, which were made during mild weather conditions with distinct areal and temporal variations in the snow and ice thickness. The total amount of refrozen ice calculated from the surface melting water gives a first-order estimate of snow-ice formation during the BASIS experiment, and this agreed well with the total observed variation in ice thickness. The model slightly overestimated ice growth at the bottom. This may be due to the variation in sea-ice thermal properties, affected by a slush layer between the snow and ice, or to the lack of ice-ocean interaction in the model.