In this national survey, we found that individual patient assessments by pharmacists were more common at facilities using centralized prescribing for nirmetralvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) than decentralized prescribing. Provider discomfort was initially less with centralized prescribing, but later, there was no difference in provider discomfort based on prescribing mechanism.

Floe size within the Antarctic pack ice is an important parameter that affects both the ocean-ice-atmosphere energy exchange and the mechanical properties of pack ice. In this paper we present a computer-based algorithm to extract floe-size distribution information from digital aerial photographs of Antarctic sea ice. The algorithm segments digital images of sea ice into distinct floes from which the size of each floe is calculated and floe-size distributions are derived. Through a recursive application of the morphological erosion operator, each floe is eroded towards its centre while each pixel’s erosion number is recorded. This ensures no information is lost while individual floes are identified. The algorithm combines image-processing techniques with some manual input to accurately identify the boundaries of individual floes within an image. To demonstrate the functionality of the algorithm, six images, representing regions along a 22 km south-to-north transect through a transitional zone of pack ice near 65° S, 140° E, have been processed. Regional variations in the floe-size distributions show an increase in the number of smaller floes relative to larger floes and a decrease in the dominant floe size (in terms of areal coverage) from south to north. These results are consistent with ship-based observations.

Upward-looking sonar (ULS) data are presented from a prototype instrument deployed at 63° 18’ S, 107°49’ E in 1994. These data show the seasonal evolution of the ice-draft distribution from May when predominantly thin ice is present, through October when substantially thicker ice has been formed by deformation. The mean ice draft reaches a maximum in August at 1.21 m, the same month in which ship-based observations from the same region show a peak in ice thickness. The observed distribution from ULS data is only for drafts > 0.3 m due to data losses caused by the low acoustic reflectivity of actively forming ice. The spring distributions show very little development of drafts > 3.0 m, and it is hypothesized that this is due to the cyclical nature of deformation in the East Antarctic pack-ice zone, and that periods of sustained pressure required to form very thick ice are uncommon in this region

A coupled atmosphere-sea-ice model is used to study the sensitivity of the Antarctic sea-ice distribution to oceanic heat flux (OHF). Remote sensing of sea ice from microwave radiometers provides data on ice extent and ice concentration. The ice-thickness data used are from ship-based observations. Our simulations suggest that OHF values of 0−5 W m−2 will cause sea ice to be too thick in the model. A value of 20−25 Wm−2 throughout the year causes sea ice to be too thin in the model. The model results indicate that a seasonally varying OHF is required to match the modelled thickness with observations. Values of 5−30 Wm with an annual mean of 10−15 Wm−2, give a reasonable distribution of sea-ice thickness. This agrees with the limited observations of OHF available for the Antarctic. The model results also indicate that the OHF should be varied spatially. When a seasonally and spatially variable OHF is applied to the coupled atmosphere-sea-ice model a still better simulation of the sea-ice distribution is obtained. Our results also suggest that the role of ice advection is very important in the determination of the sea-ice distribution, and it can be quantified by the model.

The surface radiation budget was continuously measured in the sea-ice zone between 140° E (Terre Adélie) and 180° (McMurdo Sound) close to mid-summer, when the sea ice is disintegrating. These measurements were carried out during a cruise of the USCGC Polar Sea from Hobart, Tasmania, to McMurdo station, Antarctica, in 1998/99. Some of the findings are: the solar radiation is the major atmospheric energy source for the melting of ice. The sun was above the horizon for 24 h for most of the cruise. Due to a high amount of fractional cloudiness, the global radiation was somewhat reduced when compared to areas with lesser cloud cover Mean noon values were around 400 W m−2, while at midnight a value of 30 W m−2 was measured. Daily mean values of the net shortwave radiation varied widely, a function of the reflectivity of the surface, which is strongly dependent not only on the ice concentration, but also on the ice type (e.g. whether it is covered with snow, flooded, melting or dry). Detailed ice observations were carried out. Hourly values of the albedo varied from 6% (open water) to 84% (10/10 sea ice with a dry snow cover). The mean net longwave radiation was only modestly negative. The high amount of fractional cloud cover increased the longwave incoming radiation from the atmosphere. A mean value of −40 W m−2 was measured, which displayed only a very weak diurnal course. The sum of the short- and longwave radiation, the total radiation budget, showed the expected diurnal variation, with slightly negative values at night (for 6 h), and a mean maximum at solar noon of around 220 W m−2. A mean daily value of 98 W m−2 was calculated.

An observational account of research carried out in July-August 1999 shows that grounded iceberg and related fast-ice distributions, and periodic "break-outs" of fast ice (in winter as well as at other times), have an important impact on the size and behaviour of the Mertz Glacier polynya, East Antarctica, and a smaller polynya to the east. Analysis of satellite and in situ data shows that a semi-constant "stream" of thick broken-out fast ice and other large floes from the east extends westwards from north of the glacier terminus to form a compact barrier to the net west-northwesterly export of ice formed in the polynya. An annual fast-ice promontory to the west further narrows the outlet path. As a result of this and high ice-production rates, the polynya periodically "back-fills", significantly reducing the open-water area present. Intervening "flush-outs" by synoptic storm events clear the polynya region to some extent before it back-fills again. This cycle continued from mid-March until early October in 1999, when a significant change in the regional ice drift occurred. A preliminary comparison with data from 1998 indicates that the timing and magnitude of the processes may vary interannually. Similar morphological features were also observed in 1963 (on a declassified photoreconnaissance satellite image).

During August 1999, detailed data were collected in the Mertz Glacier polynya along the coast of Antarctica on the drift of newly forming ice tracked with drifting buoys and the ice thickness in the vicinity of the buoys over time. Using these measurements, we estimate the ice-growth rate and the processes which are important in the early stages of ice formation. We find that although there is rapid frazil formation in the open-water areas near the coast and Mertz Glacier Tongue, this frazil ice can take several days to consolidate. A period of warmer weather, when temperatures reached as high as 0°C, delayed the consolidation of the frazil for > 4.5 days. The undeformed new-ice growth rate averaged about 4 cm d-1 for the first 5 days of formation. Ridging and rafting doubled the total growth rate to an average of 8 cm d-1. Blowing and falling snow was incorporated into the surface of the newly forming ice, with 16 of 22 ice cores having some snow in the top few centimeters.

The importance of monitoring sea ice for studies of global climate has been well noted for several decades. Observations have shown that sea ice exhibits large seasonal variability in extent, concentration and thickness. These changes have a significant impact on climate, and the potential nature of many of these connections has been revealed in studies with numerical models. An accurate representation of the sea-ice distribution (including ice extent, concentration and thickness) in climate models is therefore important for modelling global climate change. This work presents an overview of the observed sea-ice characteristics in the East Antarctic pack ice (60-150° E) and outlines possible improvements to the simulation of sea ice over this region by modifying the ice-thickness parameterisation in a coupled sea-ice-atmosphere model, using observational data of ice thickness and concentration. Sensitivity studies indicate that the simulation of East Antarctic sea ice can be improved by modifying both the “lead parameterisation” and “rafting scheme” to be ice-thickness dependent. The modelled results are currently out of phase with the observed data, and the addition of a multilevel ice-thickness distribution would improve the simulation significantly.

Sixty-three ice cores were collected in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas in August and September 1993 during a cruise of the R.V. Nathaniel B. Palmer. The structure and stable-isotopic composition (18O/16O) of the cores were investigated in order to understand the growth conditions and to identify the key growth processes, particularly the contribution of snow to sea-ice formation. The structure and isotopic composition of a set of 12 cores that was collected for the same purpose in the Bellingshausen Sea in March 1992 are reassessed. Frazil ice and congelation ice contribute 44% and 26%, respectively, to the composition of both the winter and summer ice-core sets, evidence that the relatively calm conditions that favour congelation-ice formation are neither as common nor as prolonged as the more turbulent conditions that favour frazil-ice growth and pancake-ice formation. Both frazil- and congelation-ice layers have an av erage thickness of 0.12 m in winter, evidence that congelation ice and pancake ice thicken primarily by dynamic processes. The thermodynamic development of the ice cover relies heavily on the formation of snow ice at the surface of floes after sea water has flooded the snow cover. Snow-ice layers have a mean thickness of 0.20 and 0.28 m in the winter and summer cores, respectively, and the contribution of snow ice to the winter (24%) and summer (16%) core sets exceeds most quantities that have been reported previously in other Antarctic pack-ice zones. The thickness and quantity of snow ice may be due to a combination of high snow-accumulation rates and snow loads, environmental conditions that favour a warm ice cover in which brine convection between the bottom and top of the ice introduces sea water to the snow/ice interface, and bottom melting losses being compensated by snow-ice formation. Layers of superimposed ice at the top of each of the summer cores make up 4.6% of the ice that was examined and they increase by a factor of 3 the quantity of snow entrained in the ice. The accumulation of superimposed ice is evidence that melting in the snow cover on Antarctic sea-ice floes ran reach an advanced stage and contribute a significant amount of snow to the total ice mass.

Sea-ice extent and concentration are routinely measured using satellite sensors. However, regional estimates of sea-ice thickness cannot be measured directly from space, and largely depend on field observations with in the pack ice. One difficulty is estimating the amount of ice contained in pressure ridges. These ridges can contribute substantially to the total ice volume, yet are highly variable both spatially and temporally. Here we provide estimates of sea-ice ridge height and frequency in the East Antarctic region around 65° S, 140° E. We calculate ridge height distributions using high-resolution (< 1 m) digital aerial photography collected in August 1995. Wc examine the ridge height distribution and ridge concentration from near the coast of Antarctica northwards to the marginal ice zone. The area-averaged volume of ice in ridges contributes 0.06-1.35 m to the undeformed ice thickness in winter. There is a band of less deformed ice centred around 65° S, with more highly deformed ice to the south. Similar features are identified in satellite synthetic aperture radar data collected over the same region in August 1995 and 1996, and in observations of sea-ice characteristics collected during field experiments.

Several recent studies have suggested that much of the winter-time Antarctic ice is thin (<0.3m). The presence of extensive areas of thin ice has a significant effect on ocean-atmosphere energy exchange. This is investigated using the Maykut (1978) thin-ice energy-budget model in a study for typical September Antarctic ice and climatic conditions. To study the sensitivity of turbulent heat loss to ice concentrations, the Maykut model is combined with an empirical parameterization for the turbulent fluxes from leads (Andreas, 1980) which takes account of the non-linear relationship between heat loss and lead width (or ice concentration). In this one-dimensional sensitivity study, a constant floe-size is assumed, and ice-concentration variations are simulated by changing the width of the leads between floes. The modelled results, for the floe size considered, indicate that at 80% ice concentration the turbulent heat loss through the thin ice component can be greater than that from leads. As concentration decreases, however, the fractional loss through the ice, and, hence, the ice-thickness distribution, becomes less significant. For the concentrations lower than 50%, there is little change in turbulent loss with further decrease in ice cover, as the atmosphere effectively “sees” open ocean.