The influence of heavy shipping traffic on the structure and dynamics of sea ice in the southwestern Kara Sea

The development of the Northern Sea Route and the beginning of year-round transit shipping require not only the production of new icebreakers and ice-class vessels, but also the development of a specialized hydrometeorological support system for ice shipping. For the analysis of satellite data and the development and validation of ice forecasts, actual field data on the ice cover is required. This data can only be obtained from shipboard observations; however, scientific expeditions are rarely organized during the winter. In order to obtain new data over the area of intensive shipping, two expeditions were organized on board of nuclear icebreakers in the southwestern Kara Sea (“LED-SMP” expeditions) in 2023 and 2024. Specialized hydrometeorological maintenance of ice shipping in the southwestern Kara Sea together with the research expeditions “LED-SMP” carried out in the same place and time on board the nuclear icebreakers revealed the influence of the technogenic factor on the sea ice structure and dynamics was revealed. In winter and spring, two main routes are used for navigation in the southwestern Kara Sea: through the Kara Gate Strait and north of Cape Zhelaniya. In April 2024, a unique situation occurred when, due to the difficult ice conditions east of the Kara Gate Strait, the entire ship traffic was directed north of Cape Zhelaniya. In preparing a long-term ice forecast, it was noted that after the redirection the natural development of ice processes changed. At the beginning of the winter period 2024,