An energy conservation approach is applied to the problem of sea ice growth. A simulation model which establishes an explicit relationship between the surface temperature and each component of the energy balance is presented. Included are the effects of a snowpack and variable thermal properties for snow and ice. The sea ice growth is treated as a response of the thermodynamic interaction of the atmosphere, snow, ice and ocean. Daily estimates of the radiative, turbulent, conductive and melt-induced energy fluxes, the surface and snow-ice-interface temperatures, the average ice salinity and the ice thickness are provided by the model. A comparison of sea ice growth observations at three Arctic locations with model predictions indicates a good reproduction of real world conditions by the computer simulation.

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