Ice mass balance buoy

The main types of ice mass balance buoys include The CRREL-Dartmouth Ice Mass Balance Buoy (IMB) includes two ice-facing acoustic rangefinders, a vertical temperature string, and air temperature and pressure sensors.

The SIMB-1,2,3 instruments have the same sensor package as the CRREL-Dartmouth IMB but are enclosed in a spar-type buoy hull to improve their performance during the melt season.

The lower-budget Snow and Ice Mass Balance Array (SIMBA) from SAMS includes only a vertical temperature string and a non-floating satellite-connected transmission package.

During the deployment, the manual measurements of snow thickness, ice draft and freeboard, and location of IMB sensors are usually made.

In summer, the presence of the chain may lead to receiving additional solar energy absorption, which may influence the rates of snow and ice melt.

[2] IMBs also allow the study of the temporal evolution of under-ice meltwater layers, conditions of false bottom formation, and their effect on ice melt rates.

Ice mass balance buoy installed in pressure ridge during MOSAiC expedition
Temperature profile of melting sea ice measured by ice mass balance buoy [ 1 ]
Pressure ridge interface temporal evolution obtained from ice mass balance buoy temperatures after heating cycle [ 2 ]